Government strives to boost economic vitality in consolidation period

The Government will expedite adjustment on industry in the period of gaming consolidation, especially boosting economic vitality, optimising legislations and creating an environment favouring the small- and medium-sized enterprises. This is according to the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, who said at meetings with representatives of associations from different sectors, including the commerce, labour union, women’s affairs, import and export, and textile. Mr Leong stressed that the Government was financially stable, and had accumulated reserves that could cover public expenditure in four years, adding that he foresaw reserves in this year. In the meetings, Mr Leong said the Government paid great attention to propel community economy and support the emerging industries, such as MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions) and the finance sector, which would further leverage Macao’s unique positions as a world centre of tourism and leisure, and a commercial and trade co-operation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. He disclosed the Government planned to optimise legislations for a better business environment, and would launch a string of measures to simplify administrative procedures and would continue the tax relief measures if they had positive effects to the economy. On young entrepreneurship, the Government would give its support as always, not only financially but also providing training, consultant service, experience sharing and other one-stop services for the young people. In views of the concerns over employment opportunities, Mr Leong re-iterated one of the core tasks of his team was to stable the job market, such as to provide more on-the-job training opportunities to the workers and improve their upward mobility. The representatives whom Mr Leong met with had expressed support for the Government’s retrenchment measures, which involve expenditure-cutting for government departments without affecting its investment plan and spending on social welfare.