News

The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP283.3 billion (USD35.46 billion) at the end of January 2012. The reserves rose by 4.0% from the revised value of MOP272.4 billion (USD34.03 billion) for the previous month. When compared with a year earlier, the reserves increased by MOP91.3 billion or 47.6%. Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves at end-January 2012 represented 47 times the currency in circulation or 366.6% of Pataca M2 at end-December 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, rose by 0.20 points month-to-month but fell by 0.23 points year-on-year to 88.60 in January 2012. For enquiry, please contact:
Research and Statistics Department, Monetary Authority of Macao (Tel: 83952532; Fax: 28353042)
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Police are acting more proactively against crimes such as robbery, in particular in areas frequented by visitors.
And at the same time they will strengthen their relationship with the public to help fight crime, the Secretary for Security, Mr Cheong Kuoc Va, said today.
Mr Cheong disclosed this when he released the crime statistics for last year, which showed a slight increase of 7.4 per cent compared with 2010.
He said as work had commenced on large infrastructure projects which could bring more visitors to Macao, they might have to recruit more police officers to cope with an increasing workload.
Mr Cheong said due to the increase in robbery cases, the authorities would act more proactively against crimes, particularly at tourist spots and strengthen the relationship between the police and the public. He said crimes against property made up of 56.6 per cent of the total of 12,512 cases in the reporting year, with crimes against the person accounting for 19.4 per cent. Crimes against the person -- one of the five major categories of crimes classified in the Penal Code of Macao -- dropped 1.7 per cent to 2,428 cases. Wounding increased by 6.7 per cent to 1,704 cases, with criminal intimidation up 16.9 per cent to 207 cases. Crimes against property rose 16.2 per cent with 7,080 cases, with pick-pocketing and robbery cases up 20.1 per cent. Crimes against society dropped 1.4 per cent with 670 cases, due to a 10.6 per cent drop in the use of counterfeit banknote cases. Other crimes not included in the above classifications dropped 11.3 per cent, with 1,379 cases. Juvenile crimes fell by two cases compared with last year, with 100 cases in 2011.
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Owing to the strike action by workers of the public sector in Israel, Macao Post announced that mail delivery services (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet, Parcel and EMS) from Macao to Israel are subject to delay until further notice.
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Owing to the flooding in Australia, Macao Post announced that mail delivery services (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet, Parcel and EMS) from Macao to New South Wales and Queensland, particularly for the areas with postal codes bearing the prefixes below are subject to delay until further notice.
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Consumer Council pays attention to price trend of all consumer goods, long-term and individual projects are therefore constantly adopted for the improvement of the Council's work on collecting price data. A price survey on milk tea was conducted by surveying prices of milk tea in 35 randomly picked local cafés; survey result showed that over half of the surveyed cafés had not changed their prices for milk tea in the last two months. The Council reminded food establishments that any updated price lists or menus must be submitted to the license issuing department for record. Many consumers have reflected that prices of food sold in local cafés have been raised apparently after Chinese New Year and hope that the Administration could pay close attention to it. Consumer Council started its price survey on milk tea last December. Prices of milk tea for take-away from 35 local cafés were collected in December 2011 and February 2012 respectively. Result of the price survey showed that 18 out of the 35 cafés had not changed their prices for milk tea during the surveyed period. 13 cafés had raised their prices for milk tea for MOP1.00, 4 others had a price increase of MOP0.50; the percentage increase ranged from 5% to 12%. The Council indicated that as Macao is a free market, businesses have the right to determine the prices of their goods and services, however, in accordance with Article 35 of Decree Law No. 16/96/M, hotels and food establishments should submit their price lists or menus to the license issuing department and the license issuing department must be informed of any changes in the price lists as well. Café is one of the food establishments regulated by the above-mentioned Decree Law. Consumer Council conducted the price survey by purchasing beverages for take-away on the spot, and differences were noted between the actual selling prices and prices listed on the menu at those cafés. Though food establishments are free to determine their prices, the Council indicated that in accordance with Decree Law 16/96/M, any price changes or surcharge added are required to be stated on the menu and the license issuing department must be informed of the updated menu. Meanwhile, consumers have the right to pay according to the amount stated on the menu, otherwise, consumers may lodge their complaints with the Council or the license issuing body. For inquiries, please call Consumer Council at 8988 9315.
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Macau Government Tourist Office takes part in the South Asia Travel & Tourism Exchange (SATTE) to meet with quality buyers from all over India to promote Macau tourism and expand the source market. The 19th edition of SATTE is held in two leading outbound travel markets in India, New Delhi (February 10-12) and Mumbai (February15-16). Representatives from MGTO, accompanied by its representation office in India and Macau travel trade members, participate in the event. As India's leading B2B travel & tourism event, SATTE is the most anticipated travel and tourism event in South Asia. Over the years SATTE has grown, both in terms of exhibitors and visitors (including buyers), and is today the largest networking forum for the travel & tourism industry in South Asia. MGTO makes its debut at SATTE to showcase its new brand and slogan "Touching Moments Experience Macau" and promote new developments, new properties and attractions, including World Heritage to quality buyers in India, especially those from the smaller towns and cities to further expand the market. Macau is diversifying its tourism products and facilities to offer different experience for different age groups. MGTO has recently launched the "Incentive Travel Stimulation Program" to continue its support in boosting the development of business tourism and diversify portfolio of tourism market segments. India is an important source market for Macau and MGTO has been working extensively to explore the Indian market and lure more travelers from India to Macau. These efforts have also shown encouraging results with the number of Indian visitors to Macau increasing consistently over the past few years. Last year Macau welcomed close to 170,000 visitors from India, and over 70% were overnight guests.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitors in package tours surged by 51.5% year-on-year to 794,636 in December 2011. Visitors from Mainland China (574,427); Taiwan, China (48,071); and Hong Kong (40,203) soared by 57.7%, 135.8% and 13.8% respectively. For the whole year of 2011, visitors in package tours reached 7,307,438, up by 27.2% year-on-year. In December 2011, Macao residents travelling outbound in package tours decreased by 12.9% year-on-year to 24,119. The most popular tour itineraries were Mainland China (69.9% of total); Taiwan, China (6.6%); and the Republic of Korea (6.0%). In 2011, outbound residents in package tours decreased by 3.8% year-on-year to 242,997. Meanwhile, outbound residents travelling under own arrangements using services of travel agencies increased substantially by 40.4% year-on-year to 64,167; the main destinations were Mainland China (52.9% of total); Hong Kong (18.0%); and Taiwan, China (16.0%). For the whole year of 2011, outbound residents travelling under such arrangements increased by 29.7% year-on-year to 648,739. At the end of December 2011, number of available guest rooms of hotels and guest-houses totalled 22,356, up by 2,265 rooms (+11.3%) year-on-year, with that of 5-star hotels accounting for 63.5% of the total. Hotels and guest-houses received a new record of 820,163 guests in December 2011, an increase of 12.7% year-on-year, with the majority coming from Mainland China (54.9% of total) and Hong Kong (17.8%). The average length of stay increased by 0.05 night to 1.5 nights. The average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses stood at 89.7%, up by 2.0 percentage points year-on-year. Average occupancy rate of hotels was 90.3%, with 4-star and 5-star hotels reaching 93.6% and 90.2% respectively. Total number of guests increased by 11.0% year-on-year to 8,612,127 in 2011; average occupancy rate of hotels and guest-houses was 84.1%, up by 4.3 percentage points year-on-year. For the whole year of 2011, visitor-guests accounted for 62.3% of the total number of tourists (overnight visitors), higher than 61.1% in 2010.
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A cooperation agreement to establish a Joint Research Centre for Chinese Innovative Medicines is signed today (13 February) in Beijing by four universities in the Greater China: Peking University (PKU), the National Taiwan University (NTU), the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the University of Macau (UM). The purpose of this Centre is to bring the academic and research strengths of the four universities into full play through collaboration in researching and developing innovative medicines and health products of world-class quality. This Centre will make the best use of UM's strength in Chinese medicine research and the nurturing of talents in this field so that it can advance research and development of Chinese innovative medicines to the world-class level. Several officials attended the occasion, including Vice Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NCP) Mr. Han Qide and Mr. Sang Guowei, Vice Minister of Health Mr. Liu Qian, and Vice Minister of Science and Technology Mr. Wang Weizhong. More than two hundred scholars from the four universities also witnessed this historic moment of collaboration in the Greater China in the field of Chinese bio-medical sciences. The President of PKU Prof. Zhou Qifeng, the President of NTU Prof. Si-chen Lee, the Vice-Chancellor of HKU Prof. Lap-Chee Tsui, and the Rector of UM Prof. Wei Zhao signed the agreement on behalf of their respective university at the ceremony. Mr. Han Qide stressed that in spite of the variance of the governance systems, educational philosophy, teaching and research focuses among the four higher learning institutions, they all worked proactively towards the same goal of making the Chinese hold their heads high internationally. For this purpose, we should all make the most of the forte of our tradition and chart a way for the research and innovation of traditional Chinese medicines by weathering all the difficulties in our way. Prof. Wei Zhao noted that thanks to the great joint efforts made over the past decade by the Macao SAR Government and the University of Macau in the research of Chinese medicine, UM was in a good stead to collaborate with the other top universities. The cooperation this time was a further testimony to and recognition of the commitment of the SAR Government, UM and the community at large. Macao would play an important role in this joint project by capitalizing on its unique strengths as well as the research facilities on the new campus of the University of Macau. Apart from that, our University would continue to expand the frontier of our research field and establish a faculty of health to provide better education, research and service for the societal development of the Macao SAR and diversification of its economy. A meeting will be held at UM next month to discuss the establishment of a joint research platform of the Centre.
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Consumer Council's latest specific price survey (February) on tissue and toilet papers has been released. In comparison with data from September last year, most surveyed brands reflected stability in their average price this month. Significant price discrepancy of up to 55% was shown in 'Scott Bathroom Tissue 3 Ply (10 pcs)' in different retail spots. Consumer Council conducted the latest survey on 8th February, surveying 13 samples of tissue and toilet papers from 25 local retail outlets. In comparison with last time's data, most surveyed items only recorded slight changes in price. 6 surveyed products recorded price increases of around 1% to 10%, only 'Kleenex Brand Tissues (5 boxes)' had a price rise of almost 20% in one retail spot. 10 products recorded price decreases of around 2% to 10%, 'Andrex Bathroom Tissue (3 ply) (10 rolls)' had a price drop of almost 20% in one retail spot in Taipa. In the current survey, a general price difference of 20 % was observed for the same product sold in different outlets. The highest difference recorded this time was found in ''Scott Bathroom Tissue 3 Ply (10 pcs)' in which the lowest and highest selling price differed for around 55.2%. Consumers are advised to check with the price data available on the Council's website before making consumption. The latest specific price survey on tissue and toilet papers is now available online on the Council's official website (www.consumer.gov.mo). For enquiries, please call 8988 9315.
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Owing to the snowfalls in France, Macao Post announced that mail delivery services (including Correspondence, Printed Matters, Small Packet and Parcel) from Macao to France, particularly for the areas with postal codes bearing the prefixes below are subject to delay until further notice. Postal Code Prefixes
06, 09, 13, 14, 26, 27, 28, 31, 41, 45, 50, 53, 61, 72, 76, 78, 83 Thank you for your kind attention.
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