News

Owing to flooding in France, Macao Post announced that all mail delivery services (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet, Parcel and EMS) from Macao to areas bearing the following postal codes prefixes are subject to delay until further notice. Postal Code Prefixes
07, 11, 13, 30, 34, 48, 66, 83 Thank you for your kind attention.
…

As part of the 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, the Legal and Judicial Training Centre is going to hold a workshop on "Legislative Drafting Experiences in Bilingual and Multilingual Legal Systems and Management of the Legislation" with the aim to enhance the knowledge of our legal professionals in the legislative drafting experiences of the European Union, Switzerland and Canada as well as an accent on the management of the legislation experiences. This event begins on Monday, November 14th, at 4:00 p.m. in the Multi-function Room of the Law Reform and International Law Bureau located on Alameda Dr. Carlos D' Assumpção, n. ° 398, CNAC building, 6th floor. This workshop will be conducted in English / Portuguese, with simultaneous translation into Cantonese and Portuguese and will feature the following keynote speakers: 1. Professor Luzius Anton Mader, Associate Professor at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration in Lausanne and Deputy Director of the Federal Office of Justice (Swiss Ministry of Justice); 2. Ms. Marta Tavares de Almeida, Director of the External Relations Service and Extension of Law Faculty, University of New Lisboa and Vice-President of the International Association of Legislation. During the five daily sessions, taking place from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, until November 18th, the following topics will be discussed: 1. Introductory session (legislative methodology and drafting, legal systems, cultures and styles); 2. The rule of law and the quality of laws; 3. Multilingual legislative drafting in Switzerland; 4. Multilingual legislative drafting in Canada; 5. Multilingual legislative drafting in the European Union; 6. Management of the legislation and management of the legislative corpus. The 2nd EU-Macao Co-operation Programme in the Legal Field, which incorporates this workshop, has as its main objective the "Consolidation of the Macao Legal System" and will take place until December 2012. The execution of this Programme is organised by the Law Reform and International Law Bureau (DSRJDI), with the participation of several other MSAR's entities and public departments, namely, the Legal and Judicial Training Centre (CFJJ), the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ), the Economic Services (DSE), the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) and the Institute of European Studies of Macao (IEEM).
…

The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, will deliver his Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2012 on 15 November (Tuesday). The session will be held at the Legislative Assembly at 3 pm, to be followed by a press conference at Government Headquarters at 5 pm The Address will be broadcast live on the Portal Website of the Macao SAR (http://www.gov.mo), the website of the Office of the Chief Executive (http://www.gce.gov.mo), the website of the Government Information Bureau (http://www.gcs.gov.mo) and the website of the Legislative Assembly (http://www.al.gov.mo). Chinese and Portuguese versions of the Policy Address will be available on these websites. The following day, Mr Chui will attend the plenary session of the Legislative Assembly to answer questions from the legislators, from 3 pm to 6 pm. Teledifusão de Macau (TV and radio) will broadcast live the Policy Address, the press conference and the plenary session. From 22 November (Tuesday) to 6 December (Tuesday), the five policy secretaries will attend plenary meetings of the Legislative Assembly to introduce their policies and answer legislators' questions. These sessions will also be broadcast live on the Portal Website of the Macao SAR, the website of the Legislative Assembly and by Teledifusão de Macao. Hard copies of the Police Address will be made available to members of the public on 15 November from various government facilities such as the Central Library, the Macao Post, the Government Printing Bureau, the Government Information Bureau, the Social Welfare Bureau, and the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Gaming Sector saw favourable growth in 2010, with substantial increase in visitor arrivals. Total Receipts of the Gaming Sector reached MOP 190.67 billion, and Total Expenditure amounted to MOP 91.27 billion, up notably by 57% and 44% respectively year-on-year. Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy soared by 58% to MOP 113.34 billion. However, Gross Fixed Capital Formation shrank significantly by 63% from 2009 to MOP 1.10 billion, following the conclusion of the tourism and gaming facilities in 2009. In 2010, Total Receipts of the Gaming Sector amounted to MOP 190.67 billion, of which Receipts from Gaming & Related Services (e.g. food & beverage, currency exchange, etc.) reached MOP 190.62 billion; Interest Receipts decreased notably by 71% year-on-year to MOP 50.55 million. Total Expenditure amounted to MOP 91.27 billion, with Purchase of Goods, Commission Paid and Customer Rebate rising by 66% from 2009 to MOP 65.44 billion (72% of the total); besides, Operating Expenses (MOP 11.89 billion) and Compensation of Employees (MOP 10.71 billion) also increased by 15% and 4% respectively.
…

No dia 30 de Setembro de 2011, estimou-se que a população de Macau era composta por 560.100 pessoas, o que representa um acréscimo de 2.000 pessoas face ao fim do segundo trimestre deste ano, informam os Serviços de Estatística e Censos. Durante o terceiro trimestre do corrente ano, nasceram 1.473 nados-vivos e observou-se uma subida de 8,9% comparativamente ao segundo trimestre de 2011. Destes 762 eram do sexo masculino, o que corresponde a uma taxa de masculinidade à nascença de 107,2. Por seu turno, registaram-se 471 óbitos, mais 15,7% em termos trimestrais, cujas causas antecedentes de morte foram, principalmente, tumores e doenças do aparelho circulatório. Relativamente às doenças de declaração obrigatória, ocorridas no terceiro trimestre de 2011, foram comunicados 1.011 casos, sendo os predominantes a enterovírus infecção, a Influenza e a T.B pulmonar, com 369, 236 e 86 casos, respectivamente. O número de casamentos atingiu os 847, subiu 8,7% em relação ao segundo trimestre de 2011. No trimestre em análise, verificou-se que 1.719 cidadãos chineses eram titulares de "Salvo conduto singular da China Continental para Macau/Hong Kong", mais 185 indivíduos, em termos trimestrais. No que toca aos imigrantes ilegais, 382 foram repatriados no terceiro trimestre de 2011. Havia 851 indivíduos autorizados a residir em Macau, mais 230 pessoas relativamente ao segundo trimestre de 2011. Até ao fim do terceiro trimestre deste ano, existiam em Macau 89.896 trabalhadores não residentes que aumentaram 4.623 em comparação com o fim do segundo trimestre de 2011.
…

According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, on a monthly basis, broad money witnessed a slight decline in September. As loans to non-residents exhibited a significant decrease, the overall loan-to-deposit ratio continued to fall. Money supply
Currency in circulation and demand deposits grew 2.3% and 7.1% respectively. M1 thus increased 6.3% from one month earlier. Concurrently, quasi-monetary liabilities dropped 1.1%, driving M2 to edge down by 0.2% to MOP278.6 billion. On an annual basis, M1 and M2 rose 6.2% and 17.6% respectively. The share of Pataca (MOP) in M2 stood at 25.5%, down 0.2 percentage points over a month ago and 3.0 percentage points from a year earlier. The share of Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) in M2 was 53.0%, down 0.4 percentage points month-to-month and 1.6 percentage points year-on-year. Deposits
Resident deposits dropped 0.2% from the previous month to MOP272.4 billion. Of which, MOP deposits and HKD deposits decreased at respective rates of 1.1% and 0.9% while other foreign currency deposits grew 2.6%. In the meantime, non-resident deposits rose 1.5% to MOP94.7 billion and public sector deposits with the banking sector also increased 4.6% to MOP24.2 billion. As a result, total deposits with the banking sector grew 0.5% from a month earlier to MOP391.3 billion. The shares of MOP and HKD in total deposits were 21.2% and 43.9% respectively. Loans
Domestic loans to the private sector increased 2.4% on a monthly basis to MOP164.9 billion. Among which, MOP41.3 billion was MOP-denominated and MOP108.2 billion was denominated in HKD, representing 25.1% and 65.6% of the total respectively. Compared with a quarter ago, loans to "construction and public works", "wholesale and retail trade" and "transport, warehouse and communications" increased at respective rates of 19.2%, 17.3% and 6.7% whereas those to "restaurants, hotels and similar" and "manufacturing industries" dropped 9.4% and 8.0% respectively. External loans decreased 3.8% to MOP147.8 billion; of which, loans denominated in MOP and HKD accounted for 0.3% (MOP0.4 billion) and 34.0% (MOP50.2 billion) respectively.
Loan-to-deposit ratios
As domestic loans to the private sector increased while resident deposits dropped, the loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at end-September 2011 rose 1.2 percentage points month-to-month to 55.6%. The ratio for both the resident and non-resident sectors was 79.9%, down slightly by 0.9 percentage points from the previous month.
…

Macau Government Tourist Office has issued license to a new guesthouse, increasing the total number of guesthouses in Macau to 32. Relating to the objectives of the SAR Government, MGTO will continue to support investors in building budget hotels and guesthouses to diversify the accommodation options to meet the different demands of visitors. Located in the central district, the newly opened two-star guesthouse "Pensão Renascença" is a six-storey building with 40 rooms and a Chinese restaurant. Currently, there are 32 guesthouses (including this new one) in Macau, offering a total of 616 rooms. Director of MGTO João Manuel Costa Antunes expressed that MGTO values the demand of visitors. The SAR Government fully supports investors in establishing different types of hotels and guesthouses, and MGTO will facilitate the related applications. He looks forward to a wide choice of accommodation available for visitors to gradually realize market diversification.
…

The Macau Government Tourist Office is exhibiting once again at London's World Travel Market which opened yesterday (November 7), to showcase the exciting developments of Macau as a World Center of Tourism and Leisure and to encourage more visitors to the destination from the UK and around the world. Staged annually at London's ExCel exhibition venue, the four-day World Travel Market is one of the global events for the travel industry that attracts about 48,000 travel industry professionals every year to meet, network and conduct business under one roof while learning about the latest developments within the industry. The 25.5m² MGTO booth, designed with the theme 'Touching Moments, Experience Macau', is located within the Asia section. Representatives for the MGTO include: Head of Marketing, Cora Vong and MGTO's UK representative Sue Whitehead, amongst others. The MGTO also hosted a joint on-stand lunch reception with HKTB yesterday for travel trade and media guests. The event provided a great networking opportunity for travel trade professionals and members of the press to learn more about Macau and Hong Kong in an informal environment.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 850 new companies were incorporated in the third quarter of 2011, up by 8.7% year-on-year; total value of registered capital soared by 132.0% to MOP479 million, which was driven by an upsurge of registered capital of the new incorporations engaging in Business Services (MOP410 million). The majority of the new incorporations are operating in Wholesale and Retail (341), Business Services (144) and Construction (96). There were 592 (69.6% of total) new incorporations registered with capital under MOP50,000 and the value of capital (MOP15 million) made up 3.2% of the total; meanwhile, there were 18 new companies registered with capital of MOP1,000,000 or over, and the value of capital (MOP426 million) accounted for 89.0% of the total. In addition, more than 80% of the new incorporations were limited companies. Capital of the new companies came mainly from Macao (MOP451 million), Mainland China (MOP15 million) and Hong Kong (MOP9 million). Capital originating from the 9 Provinces of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region amounted to MOP10 million, with that from Guangdong province sharing MOP7 million. Analyzed by place of residence of the shareholders, 502 new companies were established solely by Macao shareholders, and 106 were joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions. In the third quarter of 2011, number of companies in dissolution totalled 125 and the value of registered capital amounted to MOP23 million, of which 37 were operating in Wholesale and Retail, and 25 in Business Services.
…

With the guidance of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the first "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week" that is jointly held by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao Special Administrative Region and the Identification Services Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region will kick off on 28th November 2011. The opening ceremony will be held at the Main Foyer of the Macao Forum on 28th November at 11am. The campaign is highly concerned and strongly supported by the Central People's Government. Mr. Huang Ping, the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China will lead the delegation and come to Macao. The "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week" will be held from 28th November 2011 to 3rd December 2011 for 6 consecutive days. Activities of the promotion week are in a wide range of variety including "Photo Exhibition", "Short Film Competition for all Macao Secondary School Students", "Quizzes", "Specific Seminar", "Exchange Seminar between the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and Representatives of Associations and Youngsters in Macao" and "Community Carnival". The organizer expects to enhance citizens' knowledge on consular protection and consular services through the involvement of citizens, associations and educational institutes in Macao in a series of activities related to "Consular Protection and Consular Services". This will make them understand the services provided to Chinese citizens by the embassy or consulate of China in other countries as well as the relation between consular protection and themselves, so that they can request assistance from embassy or consulate of China in other countries in emergency. The "Short Film Competition for all Macao Secondary School Students" already started on 19th September 2011. The deadline of submitting the short films will be on 4th November 2011. The above short film competition is opened to all full-time secondary school students in Macao. The film should not be longer than 1 minute, with consular protection and consular services as the main theme. Furthermore, "Quizzes" will be published in major Macao newspapers from 9th November 2011 to 11th November 2011. Citizens can refer to the special issue on "Consular Protection and Consular Services" published on 7th November 2011 and 14th November 2011 respectively, answer the questions and return the answer slip to the "Quizzes" collection boxes or answer the questions on the activity website. Citizen who answers all questions correctly will enter the lucky draw. Collection boxes can be found at the Identification Services Bureau and service stations of associations in Macao (including the Macao Federation of Trade Unions, União Geral das Associações dos Moradores de Macau (UGAMM) and the Women's General Association of Macao). For further information of the activity, please visit the following website: www.dsi.gov.mo/sppsc. The results of the "Short Film Competition for all Macao Secondary School Students" and the "Quizzes" will be announced on 25th November 2011. Prizes will be given out to the winners at the opening ceremony of the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week". Part of the winning short films of "Short Film Competition for all Macao Secondary School Students" will also be shown during the ceremony. The "Photo Exhibition" will start on the opening day the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week" on 28th November 2011. Contents are mainly about the basic knowledge of consular protection and consular services, important overseas evacuation carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and past incidents of consular protection and consular services. The exhibition will be held at the Main Foyer of the Macao Forum from 28th November 2011 to 3rd December 2011. During the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week", there will be a specific seminar on "Consular Protection and Consular Services" hosted by Mr. Huang Ping, the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. Target audiences are major officials and senior civil servants of the Macao SAR Government. Besides, the organizer has especially prepared an "Exchange Seminar between the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and Representatives of Associations and Youngsters in Macao". Representatives of major associations and youngsters in Macao can take such precious opportunity to have direct interaction and exchange with Mr. Huang Ping, the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China on sharing his experience on consular protection businesses. Last but not the least, there will be a "Community Carnival" at the Main Foyer of the Macao Forum on 3rd December 2011 (Saturday) at 11am as the final activity of the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week". Through different interesting and interactive game booths designed by local associations, it can help to introduce the basic knowledge of consular protection and consular services to Macao citizens. Citizens are welcomed to participate and may win prizes at game booths. Besides special concerns from the Central People's Government, the above-mentioned campaign is also strongly supported by various sectors in the society including the Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau, the Macao Government Tourist Office, the Macao Chamber of Commerce, the Macao Federation of Trade Unions, União Geral das Associações dos Moradores de Macau (UGAMM), the Women's General Association of Macao, the Association of Returned Overseas Chinese Macau, the Chinese Educators Association of Macao, the Union of Catholic Schools of Macao, the Travel Industry Council of Macau and schools in Macao. For further information about the activities, please visit the following website: www.dsi.gov.mo/sppsc.
…