-35arrivals already Hong Kong residents on 1 January 2004; and new arrivals who successfully obtained a waiver of the residence requirement. 94. The importance of those limits can be illustrated by considering the position in 2001-2002. In that year, the cost of CSSA was $14.4 billion for all recipients. The cost of CSSA paid to all new arrivals was 12% of the overall amount, namely, $1.7 billion. If the seven-year requirement had then been in place, $964 million would have been paid in any event to those under the age of 18. 95. As to the remaining $764 million, those who were already Hong Kong residents in that year would also have received CSSA despite the new rule, and savings would have shrunk further when discretionary waivers were taken into consideration. One would therefore have been left with savings in respect of new arrivals affected by the seven-year rule which represent a very small fraction indeed of the $14.4 billion overall expenditure on CSSA for that year. It is true that in subsequent years, the number of recipients who have not resided here for seven years would progressively diminish. It nevertheless remains the case that the actual savings would be proportionately reduced by payments made to residents in that class for each year over the entire seven-year period. 96. As pointed out above, the legitimate aim espoused is not merely saving whatever money might be saved, but preserving the system’s sustainability. The relatively insignificant level of savings achievable by implementing the seven-year rule severely undermines the suggestion that the restriction was genuinely intended to be, or functioned as, a measure rationally designed to safeguard the sustainability of the social security system. 97. In fact, the Government has acknowledged the immateriality of the savings achievable by the seven-year requirement. In its information paper dated 2 January 2004, the day after the new rule took effect, the Government