News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that value of retail sales for the second quarter of 2013 totalled MOP 15.77 billion, a slight increase compared with the revised figure (MOP 15.71 billion) of the first quarter of 2013. Retail sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery amounted to MOP 5.48 billion (35% of total), which was followed by retail sales of Goods in Department Stores (13%), Leather Goods (10%), Adults' Clothing (9%) and Goods in Supermarkets (6%). Value of retail sales for the second quarter of 2013 increased by 23% year-on-year, with marked increase being observed in sales of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (+44%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+33%), Adults' Clothing (+28%) and Leather Goods (+27%). Value of retail sales for the first half year of 2013 reached MOP 31.48 billion, up by 21% year-on-year; sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery amounted to MOP 10.14 billion, accounting for 32% of the total. After removing the effect of price changes, volume of retail sales for the second quarter of 2013 increased by 23% year-on-year, with notable increase in sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+41%), Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (+40%) and Leather Goods (+30%). Meanwhile, volume of retail sales increased by 1% quarter-to-quarter, of which sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+27%) saw significant increase; on the contrary, sales of Footwear; Motorcycles, Parts & Accessories; and Motor Vehicles decreased by 21%, 19% and 17% respectively. Volume of retail sales for the first half year of 2013 increased by 20% year-on-year. In respect of the comments of the retailers, about 58% stated that sales volume in the second quarter of 2013 increased or held stable over the previous quarter, up by 2 percentage points compared with those holding the same sentiment in the first quarter of 2013, while 42% reported decrease in sales volume. In terms of the retail prices, about 62% reported stable prices, 20% stated an increase and 18% noted a decrease. In comparison with the same quarter of 2012, about 74% expressed that the stock level was normal in the second quarter of 2013, while 12% indicated that the stock level was low. As regards business outlook for the third quarter of 2013, about 18% anticipate that sales volume will increase from the second quarter, 58% expect sales volume to remain stable, while 24% expect a decrease. Concurrently, about 69% predict stable retail prices, 22% expect an increase, while 9% predict a decrease in retail prices.
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September marks the beginning of a new academic year. The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) lays stress on the preparatory work of the new academic year. It has communicated with relevant governmental departments and urges school leaders and parents to keep an eye on the traffic arrangements, so that everything can go smoothly on the first day of the new academic year. At the same time, as Teachers' Day is approaching, the DSEJ expresses its best wishes to all teaching staff. To ensure a smooth start to the new academic year, the DSEJ has been working closely with relevant governmental departments and education associations. It has also asked school leaders to handle students' late arrivals due to traffic congestion in a proper and flexible manner. As the traffic is expected to be busier at the beginning of the new academic year, the DSEJ urges parents and students to leave home earlier and get familiar with the road conditions in advance, as well as to pay close attention to the announcements by the authorities related to road use situations and public transport arrangements. It is advised that parents and students decide the route to school in advance. If students are going to go to school by school bus, they are advised to ask the school or school bus driver for the bus route of the first day of school. Given that September is still the rainy and typhoon season, the DSEJ urges parents to follow closely the news by the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau. If classes need to be suspended on the first day of school due to rainstorm or tropical cyclone, parents should ask their children to stay at home. In addition, the DSEJ and the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau will pay close attention to the weather conditions at the beginning of the new school year. It will also release related news on radio, television, the DSEJ website (http://www.dsej.gov.mo) and the DSEJ website for smartphones (m.dsej.gov.mo). On the other hand, the DSEJ urges students, parents and schools to take all necessary preventive measures against influenza and to pay attention to personal hygiene. If students have fallen sick, they should not go to school, but should go to see the doctor at once and rest at home. The DSEJ has given instructions on preventive measures against infectious disease to schools through the School Operation Guidelines, so that schools can know how to prevent disease by taking necessary measures, such as cleaning the campus thoroughly, etc. The DSEJ also encourages schools to take part in the School Infectious Diseases Sentinel Surveillance Programme implemented by the Health Bureau, so that they can identity and control any collective infections as early as possible. If there are any cases found, schools should immediately contact the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention of the Health Bureau at 28700800. To enable residents to receive the most updated news of the DSEJ on their mobile phones, the DSEJ will launch a mobile application in the new academic year so that students, parents and schools can know about the news and other important information through the application, such as information about school admissions, tertiary grants and class arrangements due to rainstorm or tropical cyclone, etc. In the academic year 2013/2014, there will be 77 schools in total in Macao, one less than the number of the previous year. The total number of students continues to decrease, with it expected to be around 71,797, down by 2.7% year-on-year. Among the total number of students, there are 69,895 formal education students and 1,902 recurrent education students. Contrary to the declining number of students, there is an increase in the total number of teachers. The number is expected to be around 6,529, up by 4% compared to that of the previous year. The teacher-student ratio and class-teacher ratio of formal education are 1:11.2 and 1:2.5 respectively. Compared to the ratios of the previous year, the teacher-student ratio has dropped by 6.4% and the class-teacher ratio has risen by 2%. With the implementation of small class teaching in recent years, the average number of students per class of formal education has dropped to 28.6, down by 3.3% year-on-year. Adhering to the principle of "letting Macao thrive through education", the DSEJ will continue to work closely with schools and parents in the new academic year and create a better environment in which students can grow and develop healthily.
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Two projects have been selected for the 14th Cultural Affairs Bureau Academic Research Grants supported by the Macao Special Administrative Region. The Cultural Affairs Bureau Academic Research Grants are aimed at supporting academic research projects in the field of Humanities that make a significant and original contribution to the understanding of Macao and of Macao's role in the cultural exchange between East and West. The following projects were chosen out of the applications received between December 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013: 1. A Study on Macao's Chinese Affairs Office during the late Qing Dynasty, by Zhang Tingmao, Ph.D in History from Jinan University, China, where he is currently professor and Ph.D advisor. 2. A Study on the Portuguese-Chinese and Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Dictionaries Elaborated in Macao by Sinologist Joaquim Afonso Gonçalves in the 19th Century, by Wang Mingyu, Ph.D in Literature from the University of Ritsumeikan, Japan and currently assistant professor at the Department of Chinese of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Macao. For more information on the Cultural Affairs Bureau Academic Research Grants, please visit the Cultural Affairs Bureau's website at www.icm.gov.mo.
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Consumer Council conducted its specific price survey on instant noodles on 22nd August for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12th June. Result of the mentioned survey has been uploaded to the Council's website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and is available in the Council's 'Supermarket Price Information Platform' iPhone and Android apps. For inquiry, please call the Council's hotline: 8988 9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 228 MICE events were held in the second quarter of 2013, down by 6 year-on-year. The average duration stood at 2.0 days, bringing a total of 219,000 participants and attendees, and the floor area used totalled 113,000 m2. There were 220 meetings and conferences held in the second quarter of 2013, drawing 24,000 participants. Concurrently, 8 exhibitions were organized, and the total floor area used was 32,000 m2. Number of exhibition attendees surged by 72% year-on-year to 194,000, of which 4 exhibitions attracted more than 145,000 attendees. In accordance with the information collected from 8 exhibition organizers, 5 exhibitions were repeated events, engaging 99 full-time workers. Besides, there were 522 exhibitors participated in these exhibitions and the majority came from Hong Kong (36%) and Macao (34%). Professional visitors totalled 12,418, with 60% from Macao. Revenue of the exhibition organizers increased by 56% year-on-year at MOP33.80 million, of which Rental of Exhibition Booth accounted for 75%. Expenditure amounted to MOP28.18 million, and the expenses were mainly on Publicity & Public Relation (24%), and Production, Construction & Decoration Services (21%). In addition, information from 70 exhibitors indicated that Sales of Products took up 80% of the revenue while Rental of Exhibition Booth shared 59% of the expenditure. There were 458 MICE events held in the first half year of 2013, down by 47 year-on-year. Total number of participants and attendees increased by 45% to 422,000. A total of 21 exhibitions attracted 369,000 attendees in the first half year of 2013, up by 5% and 68% respectively.
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According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, new SME lending approved by Macao banks continued to grow in the first half of 2013. Concurrently, the utilisation of SME credit in proportion to the credit limit approved by banks dropped marginally. New Lending Approved In the first half of 2013, new SME credit limit approved by Macao banks totalled MOP12.6 billion, up by 3.6% from the second half year of 2012 or 89.3% from the same period of 2012. The collateralised ratio, which indicates the proportion of credit limit with tangible assets pledged, was 75.2%, up 10.4 percentage points when compared with the last survey period or 12.0 percentage points when compared with the same period of 2012. Credit Utilisation As at end-June 2013, the outstanding value of total SME loans increased 3.6% from end-2012 or 6.9% from a year earlier to MOP33.0 billion. When compared with end-2012, SME loans to "non-monetary financial institutions", "wholesale and retail trade" and "information technology" increased at respective rates of 42.7%, 24.3% and 21.2%, whereas those to "restaurants, hotels and similar activities" and "transport, warehouse and communications" dropped 32.3% and 5.0% respectively. The utilisation rate, defined as the proportion of outstanding credit balance to the credit limit granted, dropped 0.8 percentage points from six months ago to 56.7%. Delinquent Loans At the end of June 2013, the outstanding balance of delinquent SME loans decreased by 45.1% from six months ago to MOP165.2 million. Compared to a year ago, the balance dropped 61.4%. The delinquency ratio, a ratio of delinquent loans outstanding balance to total SME loans outstanding, dropped 0.44 percentage points from end-2012 or 0.89 percentage points from a year earlier to 0.50%. For enquiry, please contact:
Research and Statistics Department, Monetary Authority of Macao
(Tel：83952532; Fax：28353042)
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals increased by 4.9% year-on-year to 2,565,170 in July 2013; same-day visitors accounted for 50.2% of the total, at 1,287,741. In July 2013, visitors from Mainland China increased by 14.0% year-on-year to 1,660,096, coming primarily from Guangdong Province (738,106) and Fujian Province (74,292); Mainland visitors travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme was 730,405. Moreover, visitors from the Republic of Korea (38,416) and the Philippines (18,859) increased by 6.6% and 0.9% respectively, while those from Hong Kong (598,200); Taiwan, China (91,226); and Japan (20,593) decreased by 6.5%, 18.7% and 41.4%. Long-haul visitors from the UK (4,744) and France (3,268) increased by 13.0% and 5.0% year-on-year, whereas those from the US (14,947), Australia (7,920) and Canada (5,655) decreased by 8.3%, 1.8% and 12.5% respectively. The average length of stay of visitors held stable from a year earlier, at 1.0 day in July 2013; overnight and same-day visitors stayed an average of 1.9 days and 0.2 day respectively. Visitor arrivals totalled 16,707,410 from January to July 2013, an increase of 4.3% year-on-year. Visitors from Mainland China and the Republic of Korea increased by 10.4% and 5.5%, while those from Hong Kong and Taiwan, China decreased by 3.8% and 10.5%. Long-haul visitors from the US (102,623), Australia (62,033) and Canada (41,497) saw year-on-year decline, on the contrary, those from the UK (33,579), France (23,553) and the Russian Federation (17,972) registered year-on-year increase.
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The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government (CAB), in cooperation with the Macao Architects Association, organises the Macao Pavilion at the 2013 Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (Shenzhen), and is not inviting applications for the Pavilion until August 30. Macao was for the first time invited to participate in this event. The CAB hopes this participation can successfully promote the cultural exchange between Macao and third countries, contribute to better knowledge of the national and international cultural tendencies in urbanism and architecture and attract the population's interest in architecture, urban planning, art and design. The theme "Urban Border" stems from urban areas' characteristic multiplicity of values, and is centred in the often ignored and hidden tendency for diversity, differentiation and individuality that is revealed beyond the mainstream and homogeneity during the urbanization process. The Shenzhen exhibition will be curated by Ole Bouman's team in cooperation with Li Xiangning and Jeffrey Johnson's team. The exhibition project will be supervised by the Organising Committee of the Macao Exhibition – 2013 Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, and the selection of applications will be carried out by the Jury Commission for the Macao Pavilion Exhibition Plans – 2013 Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture. The application form and regulation are available for download at the CAB's website, at www.icm.gov.mo.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) releases today the preliminary balance of payments (BOP) of Macao SAR for the reference year 2012. The BOP is a statistical statement that summarises external transactions of an economy with the rest of the world. In 2012, Macao recorded an overall BOP surplus of MOP30.1 billion. Among the major components, the current account registered a surplus of MOP152.0 billion. The financial non-reserve assets showed a net increase of MOP106.8 billion. Due to strong domestic demand and visitor spending, merchandise imports, valued at f.o.b., surged by 14.0% in 2012. After showing an increase of 7.0% in 2011, merchandise exports soared by 24.1%. Although exports of goods rose faster than imports of goods, the merchandise trade deficit enlarged from MOP62.4 billion in 2011 to MOP70.3 billion in 2012, given the much larger size of merchandise imports over exports. On the other hand, strong exports of travel services drove the surplus in the services account up from MOP235.2 billion to MOP275.3 billion. The primary income account, which reflects cross-border flows of factor income, recorded a net outflow of MOP44.0 billion in 2012, as compared to the net outflow of MOP39.8 billion in the previous year. The significant increase stemmed mainly from the increase in income earned by foreign direct investors in Macao. The secondary income account, which comprises mainly inflows and outflows of personal transfers as well as donations received/made by local social service organisations with respect to the rest of the world, recorded a net outflow of MOP9.1 billion, representing an increase of MOP4.6 billion from 2011. As the large invisible trade surplus offset the deficit in merchandise trade as well as net outflows of primary and secondary income, the current account surplus reached MOP152.0 billion, up markedly by MOP23.4 billion from MOP128.6 billion in 2011. Net financial non-reserve assets registered a net outflow of MOP106.8 billion in 2012, compared to a net outflow of MOP13.2 billion in 2011. Of which, a net inflow of direct investment amounting to MOP33.1 billion was recorded, as against the net inflow of MOP12.9 billion in the preceding year while the net outflow of portfolio investment amounted to MOP3.9 billion, down from MOP15.1 billion in 2011. According to the Fiscal Reserve Act that came into force at the outset of 2012, the retained surplus of the MSAR Government had to be carved out from foreign exchange reserves for establishing the MSAR's Fiscal Reserve under a separate account. This reallocation of assets, together with the rapid accumulation of foreign assets related to the Fiscal Reserve during the year, caused the net outflow of other investment in the BOP to surge from MOP10.7 billion in 2011 to MOP136.5 billion in 2012. On the other hand, financial derivatives recorded a net inflow of MOP487.7 million in 2012, as against a net outflow of MOP350.7 million in 2011. Reserve assets in the BOP records the net change in foreign currency assets held by the Monetary Authority of Macao (excluding the MSAR's Fiscal Reserve). In 2012, with the enforcement of the Fiscal Reserve Act, the retained surplus of the MSAR Government was no longer maintained in foreign exchange reserves, hence narrowing the change in reserve assets. After price, exchange rate and other adjustments, reserve assets placed outside of Macao SAR went up by MOP30.1 billion, as compared to an increase of MOP81.6 billion in 2011. Starting from this year, Macao's BOP statistics have been compiled in accordance with the newly revised Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (Sixth Edition) of the International Monetary Fund. The current release incorporates preliminary estimates of key statistics, and a detailed report with revised data will be published in December 2013. For enquiry, please contact:
Research and Statistics Department
Monetary Authority of Macao (Tel：83952532Fax：28353042 Email: gee@amcm.gov.mo)
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI (123.86) for July 2013 increased by 5.38% year-on-year, attributable to dearer charges for eating out, outbound package tours, and higher rentals for dwellings. In comparison with July 2012, notable increase was observed in the price index of Housing & Fuels (+9.04%); Health (+6.43%); and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+6.42%) on account of rising rentals for dwellings, higher charges for out-patient services and eating out, and dearer prices of fresh food and produce. On the contrary, price index of Education and Communication decreased by 3.14% and 2.66% respectively. The CPI-A (123.89) and CPI-B (124.38) increased by 5.84% and 5.31% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for July 2013 increased by 0.43% month-to-month. Higher charges for outbound package tours and rentals for dwellings drove up the price index of Recreation & Culture; and Housing & Fuels by 3.01% and 1.03% respectively. However, price index of Clothing & Footwear decreased by 2.16% upon seasonal sale of Summer clothing. The CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 0.49% and 0.38% respectively month-to-month. For the 12 months ended July 2013, the average Composite CPI increased by 5.47% from the previous period. Price index of Housing & Fuels (+8.54%) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+6.95%) registered marked increase, while index of Education decreased by 2.69%. The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 5.98% and 5.47% respectively. The average Composite CPI for the first seven months of 2013 increased by 5.27% year-on-year; the average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 5.82% and 5.17% respectively. The 2008/2009-based Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP6,000 to MOP18,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP19,000 to MOP34,999.
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