News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 12,921 building units were purchased and sold at MOP38.85 billion in the second quarter of 2011 per Stamp Duty record, up by 74.1% and 1.2 times respectively quarter-to-quarter. There were 8,255 residential units amounting to MOP33.26 billion, up by 81.3% and 1.5 times respectively over the previous quarter, of which 3,508 residential units were purchased and sold under Intermediate Transfer of Title, up by 1.1 times quarter-to-quarter and the total value increased by 1.7 times to MOP22.14 billion. Analyzed by year of completion of building, 4,687 residential units purchased and sold in this quarter were completed in 2000 and after, 2,151 units in 1990-1999 and 1,417 units in 1989 and before. As regards floor area of the unit, 3,747 units (45.4% of total) had an area of 50 to 99.9 square metres. According to the information per Stamp Duty record, the average transaction price of all residential units amounted to MOP44,269 per square metre of usable area, up by 15.7% quarter-to-quarter. The average price of those in the Macao Peninsula (MOP42,296), Taipa (MOP42,457) and Coloane (MOP70,098) increased by 13.8%, 27.1% and 3.9% respectively quarter-to-quarter. With regard to those purchased and sold under Intermediate Transfer of Title, the average price stood at MOP55,797 per square metre, up by 7.4% from the previous quarter. As regards floor area, increase in the average price of residential units with an area smaller than 50 square metres (MOP36,355) slowed down to rise by 3.5% quarter-to-quarter; the average of those having 100 to 149.9 square metres increased by 31.8% to MOP51,392 per square metre. In addition, the average price of industrial units increased by 11.0% quarter-to-quarter to MOP11,734 per square metre, and that of office units rose by 32.2% to MOP36,618 per square metre. In the second quarter of 2011, a total of 3,522 cases of real estate sale and purchase contracts were made, up by 10.7% quarter-to-quarter, while the number of units dropped slightly by 1.8% to 4,301. Moreover, there were 2,491 cases of residential mortgage contracts signed, an increase of 23.6% quarter-to-quarter. In the second quarter of 2011, gross floor area of buildings completed totalled 476,380 square metres, altogether providing 389 units (356 are residential units), 969 parking spaces for cars and 303 parking spaces for motorcycles.
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The performance Encounters: Audiovisual Mapping of St. Paul's Ruins, commissioned by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and staged during the 22nd Macao Arts Festival, generated great public demand for additional performances – a demand which has not ceased. The organiser will therefore revive the light show for 10 consecutive nights, from 26th August to 4th September, with two performances at 8:00pm and 9:00pm each night at the Ruins of St. Paul's. Admission is free. Commissioned by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the performance Encounters: Audiovisual Mapping of St. Paul's Ruins was produced by the Barcelona-based Telenoika Mapping team with support from the agency Panda Artist Management, which has offices in both Barcelona and Macao. Utilising cutting-edge audiovisual technology, coupled with uniquely structured images and original music, this stunning production was staged at Macao's landmark Ruins of St. Paul's. The show depicts various chapters in the site's and the city's history, from the arrival of the Portuguese in Macao and the fire that destroyed much of St. Paul's to the more modern development of the city and its diverse cultural characteristics. The creative visual composition and compelling content gives new, vivid, modern life to this ancient and significant locale. Performances of the show during the Macao Arts Festival in May this year attracted impressive numbers of residents and tourists. The public's enjoyment of the projections instantly sparked heated discussions on the Internet and among the younger generation, who spread the word about the show to every corner of the city. The effects were widespread, gradually leading to an ongoing discussion about cultural events in general, a topic not common in Macao society in recent years. With exposure to worldwide audiences via the Internet, the audiovisual performance was, and continues to be, enthusiastically received both at home and abroad. In response to the desire from both residents and tourists for an encore run, the Cultural Affairs Bureau has decided to revive the show this month. The Bureau has specially invited those who have taken an interest in the city's cultural atmosphere to attend a public forum about the show, chaired by Bureau President Ung Vai Meng, who will collect opinions from the various parties. Such a forum has been deemed effective for the future development of this kind of public performance and for the promotion of an atmosphere of open dialogue on Macao's cultural and arts events in general. Furthermore, the organiser has sent staff members to conduct surveys in the neighbourhood of the Ruins of St. Paul's to understand any possible negative impact on them associated with the performances. Based on this feedback, suitable adjustments in the revival run of the show will be made. The revival of Encounters: Audiovisual Mapping of St. Paul's Ruins is scheduled to run for 10 consecutive nights, from 26th August to 4th September, with two performances at 8:00pm and 9:00pm each night at the Ruins of St. Paul's. As outdoor performances are easily influenced by inclement or serious weather conditions, such as typhoons, the organiser has made the following arrangements: In the event there is rain at 7:00pm on the evening of the show, the organiser will cancel the 8:00pm performance. If the rain persists until 8:00pm, the 9:00pm performance will also be cancelled. In the event a Tropical Cyclone Signal No. 3 or above, or a Red/Black Rainstorm Signal, is hoisted by the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau and is in effect at 3:00pm on the day of the show, both the 8:00pm and 9:00pm performances will be cancelled. Even if the signal is lowered at or before 8:00pm, the shows will remain cancelled. Residents may keep abreast of last-minute schedule changes on the Cultural Affairs Bureau website. To better manage the size of audiences and congestion in the viewing area, the organiser recommends viewing the show on weekdays, if possible. For enquiries, please call 8399 6699 or visit www.icm.gov.mo
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The law on "Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation" took effect on August 13, 2010, and the Cross-departmental Working Team spared no effort in combating illegal accommodation in the past year. Such combating operations will be carried on.
To date, according to the reports and archives of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO), a total of 1029 premises were checked and 152 premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally were sealed. After a period of investigating and tracking, 219 suspected premises under investigation previously are believed not being used to provide illegal accommodation any more, proving that the new law has created deterrent effect. Inspections involved investigations to a total of 722 occupants of premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally, including 39 overstayers and 29 illegal immigrants, whose cases are being followed up by police authorities. MGTO has waged a total of 152 sanctions and 46 operators who provided accommodation illegally were fined 200 000 patacas each according to the law on "Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation". To date, 2 operators have voluntarily paid the fine within the statutory period and 15 are facing enforced collection. At the same time, 26 occupants who failed to fulfill their duty of cooperation were fined 3,000 patacas each, among which 12 have already paid the fine. Also, 2 touts were fined 20 000 patacas each. One company suspected to provide false declaration to MGTO is subject to criminal liability and the cases are being submitted to Public Prosecution Office for follow up.
It has been a year since the law on "Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation" came into force. In the process of law enforcement, there were challenges, involving changing of operating pattern of these illegal activities, and the complexity of the problem stems from the issue not only affects the residents but also the security of the society and has aroused public concern. Therefore, it is necessary for MGTO to conduct analysis and adjust strategy to cope with the new situation.
Meanwhile, MGTO is recruiting staff to further step up enforcement and enhance efficiency. Apart from combating actions, MGTO and Legal Affairs Bureau have printed posters and leaflets for distribution and launched promotional video and commercials on local TV and radio stations to promote awareness among visitors and residents. Video encouraging visitors to stay in legal accommodation is shown on Mainland TV stations and TV screens at the checkpoints. Similar message are sent to mobile phones of Mainland visitors in Macau and the Mainland. MGTO also cooperate with search engine providers such as Yahoo and Google to show promotional information on the law and legal accommodation when the user search for accommodation information in Macau using certain key words. To further facilitate reporting by the public, MGTO has produced key chains with hotline numbers and website to be distributed by related associations. Combating illegal accommodation is a long term operation. MGTO has been maintaining close communication with the society to obtain more information and is grateful for the opinions from related community groups and landlord associations which have highly facilitated the enforcement action. The public is urged to report suspected premises by calling the 24-hour hotline 2833 3000 or using the online report service launched by MGTO. Complainant can log on to MGTO's website (Chinese/English) http://www.macautourism.gov.mo and click the banner of "Online Complaint against Illegal Accommodation" to file a report.
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The 15-day data collection for 2011 Census starts on 12 August. The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) received several reports on alleged faked Census officers trying to enter residence of households and collection of personal data by telephone, DSEC reiterates that Census officers will not initiate data collection by telephone interview and a simple way to identify a visiting Census officer. All the Census officers have three main features, i.e. wearing a white Census uniform (white T-shirt with blue collar and the 2011 Census logo printed at the front and the back), carrying a Census Identity Card and a blue Census satchel. In case of doubt, please call the Census Hotline at 8809 8809 to verify the name, Census ID Card number, gender, etc. of the visiting Census officer before interview. To ensure safety of the households, DSEC calls on the attention of households to verify the identity of the visiting Census officer before opening the door.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP231.8 billion (USD28.88 billion) at the end of July 2011. The reserves rose by 2.7% from the revised value of MOP225.7 billion (USD28.16 billion) for the previous month. When compared with a year earlier, the reserves increased by MOP66.3 billion or 40.0%. Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves at end-July 2011 represented 40 times the currency in circulation or 320.7% of Pataca M2 at end-June 2011. The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency's exchange rates against the currencies of Macao's major trading partners, fell by 0.09 points month-to-month and 4.52 points year-on-year to 86.73 in July 2011. 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 indicated that visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 20.9% year-on-year to 591,164 in June 2011. Visitors from Mainland China (435,493); Taiwan, China (33,257) and Republic of Korea (19,493) surged by 29.0%, 50.1%, and 65.5% respectively. On the contrary, visitors from Hong Kong (21,842) and Japan (17,670) decreased by 6.5% and 21.8%. In the first half year of 2011, visitor arrivals in package tours increased by 2.0% year-on-year to 3,125,315. In June 2011, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours decreased by 15.6% year-on-year to 18,565. The most popular tour itineraries are Mainland China (67.7% of total), Thailand (8.8%) and Republic of Korea (6.1%), with notable increase being observed in outbound residents travelling to Thailand in package tour. In the first half year of 2011, outbound residents in package tours decreased by 1.1% year-on-year to 109,362. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased by 14.6% year-on-year to 49,270; the main destinations were Mainland China (37.7% of total); Hong Kong (22.6%); and Taiwan, China (19.0%). In the first half year of 2011, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements went up by 24.3% year-on-year to 270,131. At the end of June 2011, total number of available guest rooms of hotels and guest-houses increased by 2,116 (+10.8%) year-on-year to 21,676 rooms, with that of 5-star hotels accounting for 62.6% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received 704,464 guests in June 2011, up by 16.9% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (51.8% of total) and Hong Kong (20.4%). The average length of stay of guests decreased by 0.08 night to 1.4 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses was 82.5%, up by 6.7 percentage points year-on-year. Average occupancy rate of hotels stood at 83.1%, with 4-star hotels leading at 88.3%. Hotel guests increased by 5.0% year-on-year to 3,988,791 in the first half year of 2011; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 82.0%, up by 3.3 percentage points compared with 78.6% a year earlier. In the first half year of 2011, visitor-guests of hotels and guest-houses accounted for 61.7% of the total number of tourists (overnight visitors), higher than 60.9% in the same period of 2010.
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Owing to the riots in certain areas of London, the Macau Post advises the public that mail delivery services (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet and Parcel) from Macau to areas bearing the following postal code prefixes are subject to delay until further notice.
Please read attachment.
Postal Code Prefixes Thank you for your kind attention.
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The Government will spend 10 billion patacas to help the needy tackle inflation and to enhance social welfare, the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, announced today at the plenary session of the Legislative Assembly. Mr Chui said the Government would closely monitor inflation in the latter half of this year and evaluate its negative impact on the needy. He said the Government would allocate about 10 billion patacas to improve social welfare and to launch relief initiatives for low income earners. Aside from these measures and if inflation continued to rise, the Government would directly help some 5,300 needy families by enhancing the food bank network. On public housing, the Chief Executive said 19,000 public housing units would be completed at the end of next year as he had promised in the policy address. He then revealed that on top of this the Government is planning to build some 6,000 more units. Three thousand of them are already in the design stage while land has been reserved for some 2,000 units. He emphasised that the Government would allocate the units under the principle of being open, fair and just. On the effects of the recent international financial turmoil on Macao's economy, Mr Chui said that though the economic growth of the whole year remained optimistic, the Government would closely monitor and evaluate impacts of the situation. This is the second time that Mr Chui attended the plenary session of the Legislative Assembly this year, where he also answered the questions from legislators on the issues of social welfare, livelihood, regional co-operation, cultural heritage protection, human resource, public administrative reform, environmental protection, and education and youth affairs.
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The Financial Intelligence Office (Portuguese acronym "GIF") held an official dinner on 9th August 2011 at the Plaza Restaurant in celebration of its 5th Anniversary. In the Anniversary Dinner, Ms. Deborah Ng Man Seong, the Director of GIF, highlighted the works done in the AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism) regime in the past 5 years. She denoted that with the continuous coordination and support from the inter-departmental Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Working Group members, GIF would keep on exerting its greatest effort to enhance its existing financial intelligence monitoring and data collection system, so as to cope with the ever-changing money laundering and terrorism financing trends, as well as the more stringent and rigid supervision standards from international organizations. Mr. Francis Tam, Secretary for Economy and Finance, representatives from the inter-departmental AML Working Group, including the Independent Commission for the Exercise of the Disciplinary Power over Solicitors, Public Prosecutions Office, Commission against Corruption, Unitary Police Service, Macao Customs Service, Legal Affairs Bureau, Law Reform and International Law Bureau, Economic Services Bureau, Financial Services Bureau, Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, Monetary Authority of Macao and Judiciary Police, and representatives from other government departments including the Secretary for Security, the Identification Bureau and Macau Lawyers Association were cordially invited to attend this Anniversary Dinner. Ms. Deborah Ng depicted that GIF was formed in 2006 as a Financial Intelligence Unit to analyze suspicious transactions and disseminate useful intelligence to law enforcement agencies and competent authorities. Up to the second quarter of 2011, the total number of STRs received accumulates to about 5,000, 36% of which are from Financial Institutions and 64% from non-Financial Institutions and other entities. Since the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) / Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS) mutual evaluation in 2006 and the adoption of the report in 2007, the Macao SAR government has been fully engaged in the implementation of the recommendations given in the Mutual Evaluation Report. A special AML Working Group consisting of all relevant supervisory and law enforcement agencies was assigned with the coordination role for follow up with the implementation work, and lots of progresses have been made throughout these 5 years, including but not limited to setting-up of secured and reliable database and analysis systems, assistance in capacity building of the law enforcement agencies, building up of cooperation and information exchange mechanisms among the GIF, law enforcement agencies and supervisory agencies, and international cooperation through active participation in international events, as well as signing cooperation agreements with foreign counterparts. In 2009, GIF entered the Egmont Group which is an international body for the Financial Intelligence Units and provides a platform for information exchange among members. Up to the moment, GIF has already signed "Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)" for cooperation with 10 jurisdictions including Mainland China, Portugal, Hong Kong SAR, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the population of Macao was estimated at 558,100 as at 30 June 2011, an increase of 1,300 from end-March. There were 1,353 live births in the second quarter of 2011, up by 6.2% quarter-to-quarter. Gender ratio of the newborn was 102.8, with 686 male babies. Number of mortality cases totalled 403, down by 21.6% quarter-to-quarter; major underlying causes of death were Neoplasms and Diseases of the Circulatory System. A total of 911 cases of Notifiable diseases were reported in this quarter, consisting mainly of Enterovirus Infection (590 cases), Tuberculosis of lung (80 cases) and Chickenpox (62 cases). In addition, 779 cases of marriage registration were recorded, down by 10.8% over the first quarter of 2011. In the second quarter of 2011, there were 1,534 Chinese immigrants with One-way Exit Permit moving to Macao, a decrease of 547 quarter-to-quarter; meanwhile, 325 illegal immigrants were repatriated. Moreover, a total of 621 individuals were authorized to reside in Macao, down by 83 quarter-to-quarter. Total number of non-resident workers stood at 85,273 at the end of the second quarter, up by 3,857 quarter-to-quarter.
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