Government Allocates MOP 15.91 Billion to Pension Fund: 80 Percent of 2025 Budget Surplus to Cover MOP 8.99 Billion Five-Year Gap
MACAO — The SAR Government announced on October 12 that, under Law No. 13/2026 and by order of the Chief Executive, 80 percent of the 2025 central budget execution surplus — about MOP 15.91 billion — will be allocated to the Pension Fund. The order was published in the Official Gazette, and TDM and Macao media reported the announcement the same day. The 2025 central budget execution surplus was MOP 19.89 billion.
The government explained that it bears a statutory obligation to pay the retirement and survivors' pensions of civil servants under the retirement and survivors' pension regime. The regime faces an estimated funding gap of MOP 8.986 billion over the next five years, widening further over the next decade, making forward-looking allocation of fiscal resources necessary. The early injection enlarges the Fund's asset and investment scale and lengthens its investment horizon, using long-term investment and compounding to improve potential returns and fiscal resilience and to put the regime on a firmer long-term footing.
The pressure has structural roots: the old pension regime closed to new members when the Civil Servants Provident Fund took effect on January 1, 2007. As its members retire, contributors shrink while payments grow, and longer life expectancy extends payment periods; a gap between contributions and benefit spending has existed since 2015. Data provided to legislators show that at the end of June the regime had 6,465 active members and 6,577 pensions in payment, and held about MOP 20.7 billion in financial assets. Even with existing support, the annual gap is projected to rise from MOP 865 million in 2027 to MOP 2.773 billion in 2031, as a retirement peak arrives. Earlier support included a one-off MOP 700 million allocation in 2020 and additional revenue allocations and subsidies from 2021.
The government reiterated that setting the allocation ratio will not affect spending on livelihood and social welfare measures, nor statutory allocations to the basic reserve and accumulated fiscal reserves; failing to act early could, by contrast, force statutory pension payments to crowd out welfare spending in future. The Pension Fund will review its investment strategy with professional advisers, seeking reasonable returns under a prudent approach. The government said it will keep monitoring the Fund's finances and investments to safeguard beneficiaries' lawful rights.
Sources: Compiled from the Macao SAR Government's October 12 press release (Chief Executive order published in the Official Gazette) and TDM and Macao media reporting.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 市政署大楼（原民政总署大楼），Kabacchi 摄，CC BY 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）
