Macau Social Security Fund to come under Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture

The Social Security Fund, which has been supervised by the Secretary for Economy and Finance since the establishment of the MSAR in 1999, will come under control of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture next year. The new social security system, coming into effect January 1, 2011, will provide basic living and retirement guarantees to all the people of Macau, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Tam Pak Yuen said. The transfer of supervision takes into consideration the closer links between the fund and departments under the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture in the future, such as the social welfare bureau. Adjustments to the function and structure of the fund will also be made, Mr Tam said. Meanwhile, the government gazetted the appointment of Ip Peng Kin, the current President of the Social Welfare Bureau, as President of the Administrative Committee of the Social Security Fund, starting November 1. Mr Tam said Fung Ping Kuen, the current President of the Administrative Committee of the fund, will assume the post of Deputy Director of the Centre of Sino-Western Cultural Studies Centre of the Macao Polytechnic Institute.