HONG KONG Residents leaving Hong Kong for good withdrew a total of HK$2.213 billion ($283.72 million) from their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) pension accounts in the third quarter of 2023, up 1.7% from a year earlier, government data showed.

A total of 8,700 claims were made in the July-September quarter, compared with the 8,600 claims taking out HK$2.177 billion during the same period in 2022, data from the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) showed on Wednesday.

The number of claims was higher than the 7,300 for the April-June quarter and 6,700 claims in January-March that saw withdrawals of a respective HK$1.787 billion and HK$1.573 billion.

Curbs to control the spread of COVID-19 were among the reasons for people leaving Hong Kong, which tracked China's strict zero-COVID-19 policy closely but began easing restrictions in August last year.

The MPF is a compulsory retirement scheme for Hong Kong residents, with employees and their employers required to make contributions.

Border checkpoints were reopened fully in February while all pandemic curbs were lifted from March 1 and authorities have been trying to restore business confidence and lure investors after more than three years of severe COVID-19 measures.

The city's population increased by 152,000, or 2.1%, from the middle of last year, to 7,498,100 in June this year, marking the first significant uptick since a downward trend began in 2020 due to stringent COVID-19 measures.

The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority said multiple claims for pension withdrawals are sometimes made by a single person as a scheme member may have more than one account.

In the third quarter of 2023, the total number of claims - spanning all reasons including retirement - was 68,500, an increase of 18.9% from the previous quarter's 57,600 claims.

($1 = 7.7999 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Bernadette Baum)