News

The 27th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest officially kicked off tonight (5 September) with the first dazzling fireworks presented by Malaysian team. The spectacular attracted many locals and visitors. The second fireworks display by Grupo Luso Pirotecnia from Portugal is cancelled due to delay of transportation of pyrotechnic materials. The 27th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest is held above the sea in front of Macau Tower on 5, 12, 19, 27 September and 1 October. French and Austrian teams will come on stage on 27 September, a day to celebrate both the Mid-Autumn Festival and the World Tourism Day. Teams from Australia and Mainland China will boost the festive vibe in town with their fireworks finale on 1 October, the National Day. Same as before, MGTO requests the teams to orchestrate their pyrotechnic shows with music and laser effects in a way that brings out their theme and enhances the audience experience with a pyrotechnic extravaganza. Spectators can watch the live broadcast of the Contest with background music on TDM – Macau Chinese TV Channel and TDM - Radio Macau’s Chinese Channel (FM 100.7) each fireworks evening. Locals and visitors can therefore enjoy the fireworks shows in different ways. MGTO again presents the "Macau International Fireworks Display Contest SMS Game" jointly with CTM this year to encourage locals to be part of the event. Citizens are also welcome to join the Trophy Design Competition, Photo Competition and Student Drawing Competition of the 27th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest organized by the Tourist Office. The three annual competitions are now open for applications. Famous pyrotechnic companies came from around the world to join the past editions of the Macau International Fireworks Display Contest. Without exception, the Contest rolls out a strong line-up this year, with ten teams coming from Malaysia, Portugal (performance date to be confirmed), Finland, Taiwan China, Korea, Italy, France, Austria, Australia and Mainland China (in the order of performance time and date). This is the first time for the Contest to feature teams from Malaysia and Finland. The pyrotechnic companies from Italy and France will also make their debut in Macau. The first fireworks display starts at 9 p.m. each night, followed by the second show at 9:40 p.m. MGTO and the General Union of Neighbors Association of Macau are joining hands again to host Fireworks Carnival 2015 at the open area next to Macau Tower during the fireworks evenings. Featuring stage performances and delicacy stalls, the Carnival will add a lively ambience to the fireworks nights.
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According to a press release of Fitch Ratings on 4 September 2015, although Macao’s economy continued to contract in the second quarter of 2015, the rating agency affirms Macao’s credit rating at “AA-” with a stable outlook attributable to the SAR’s strong sovereign balance sheet and external position. While the local economy has entered into a phase of adjustment, the credit rating highlights the capability of the Macao SAR Government to maintain its creditworthiness. Fitch points out the key factors supporting the Macao SAR Government’s overall creditworthiness, which include: 1. The Macao SAR Government has strong external position and maintains its debt-free status. Fiscal reserves and accumulated surpluses exceed 100% of Macao’s gross domestic product and is enough to almost cover six years of expenditures at the 2015 level budgeted by the Government. The sturdy fiscal position will provide the SAR Government significant policy space to accommodate economic adjustment and promote economic diversification. 2. Fitch expects gaming revenues to stabilise in the second half of 2015. The rating agency also expects that new tourism facilities due to be completed in the next few years could boost more tourist arrivals, expand the market, and benefit economic diversification. 3. In regard to financial stability, prudential operations of Macao’s banking sector support its asset quality and relatively healthy capitalisation. Based on its expectation for relatively stable gaming revenues in the second half of the year, Fitch maintains its forecast on Macao’s economy to shrink by 16% in 2015.
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The 27th Macau International Fireworks Display Contest will take place at the seafront of Macau Tower on 5, 12, 19 and 27 September, and 1 October. The fireworks display of Grupo Luso Pirotecnia from Portugal scheduled to perform at 9:40 pm on 5 September has to be cancelled because the pyrotechnics materials of the company are not able to be delivered to Macau as scheduled, yet the first display at 9:00 pm will be performed as scheduled, by which Macau Government Tourist Office would like to inform all residents and visitors and request their comprehension. Macau Government Tourist Office will announce the arrangement for the display of the fireworks company from Portugal early next week. The latest contest program is available at: http://fireworks.macautourism.gov.mo
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The Government would push ahead with adequate diversification of the economy in time of consolidation, maintaining the development process of the small- and medium-sized enterprises and ensuring the stability of job market. This is according to Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, who told the press today as he wrapped up his three-day visit to Beijing for the commemorative events marking the 70th anniversary of victory of the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and world anti-Fascist war. He said the grand parade held at 3 September was exciting and the commemorative events showed the country’s policy direction of peace loving and honour for martyrs. Mr Chui revealed the Government would roll out a campaign to promote tourism of Macao to attract more tourists, and expecting number of visitors would rise from the base of 31.5 million yearly. The Government’s strategies to adequate diversify the economy include more involvement in the country’s Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives, and more co-operation with different regions. On retrenchment measures, Mr Chui re-iterated they aimed at cutting unnecessary internal spending of government departments, without affecting the work to better people’s livelihood, social welfare and the expenditure on social security. He said the Government had stable financial reserves and was confident in achieving a fiscal balance or surplus this year; while it would closely monitor the economic environment, especially revenue in September, to determine the necessity of launching further measures to control public expenditure.
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Published by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and produced by 100 Plus Cultural Creative Development Ltd., the ninth edition of C2 Magazine will be launched on 7 September. The September issue focuses on the design industry in Macao, as experts are invited to discuss the joys and frustrations of working in the design industry. “Feature” invites the founder of local design brand Hylé Design Macau, Siu Kai Tong, to share his experience in starting a business in a city with high rental costs. Hylé Design Macau was founded one year ago, and until now its revenue and expenditures has reached a balance. The founder of Todot Design, Bob Lei, is highly spoken of among his many clients; having worked in Mainland China and Macao, he has a deep understanding of the design industry in both places. The Macau Design Centre provides local designers creative spaces at a rental cost lower than market price. This edition of C2 provides an exclusive interview with representative of the Macau Design Centre, James Chu, who talks about his expectations for the future of the Macau Design Centre. “Chit-Chat” invites Catarina Lio, Chief Operating Officer of Ogilvy & Mather Group HK, one of the world’s largest advertising and communications companies, to share development trends of the advertising industry worldwide and in Macao. “Extravaganza” reviews the grand occasion of the Best of the Pop Music Awards in Macao. “Around the Globe” travels to Iran to explore the characteristics that distinguish the film industry in the country. “Blogs” columnists Cheong Sio Pang, Liu Chi Heng, Eugenia Lo, Ron Lam, Choy Sau Ying, Mu Yu and Rachel Mok share their unique perspectives on the development of the cultural and creative industries. C2 is a trilingual magazine (in Chinese, Portuguese and English), published online on the first Monday of each month. Readers are welcome to browse or download the magazine at www.c2magazine.mo. The new email subscription function is now available. Simply click the “subscribe” button on the right corner of our webpage and enter your email address to subscribe to the monthly C2 magazine. For the latest updates, you may also visit the magazine’s page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/c2magazine.macau, or on WeChat, by clicking “add friend” and inputting “c2magazine” in the ID column. For enquiries, please contact the magazine through the email c2magazine.macau@gmail.com.
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According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, broad money supply continued to fall in July. As total loans increased whereas total deposits decreased, the overall loan-to-deposit ratio of the banking sector rose from a month earlier. Money supply Currency in circulation grew 1.4% whereas demand deposits dropped 16.4%. M1 thus decreased 13.4% from one month earlier. Concurrently, quasi-monetary liabilities rose 1.3%. The sum of these two items, i.e. M2, decreased 0.7% to MOP485.3 billion. On an annual basis, M1 and M2 dropped 7.6% and 0.8% respectively. The share of Pataca (MOP) in M2 stood at 28.3%, up 1.1 percentage points from a month ago or 3.7 percentage points from a year earlier. The share of Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) in M2 was 48.5%, down 1.5 percentage points month-to-month or 1.4 percentage points year-on-year. The share of Chinese Yuan (CNY) was 11.0%, down 0.4 percentage points month-to-month or 4.9 percentage points year-on-year. The share of United States Dollar (USD) was 10.0%, up 0.8 percentage points month-to-month or 2.4 percentage points year-on-year. Deposits Resident deposits decreased 0.8% from the preceding month to MOP473.7 billion. Of which, MOP and USD deposits increased at respective rates of 3.4% and 7.7%. HKD, CNY and other foreign currency deposits decreased 3.6%, 4.1% and 0.6% respectively. Non-resident deposits dropped 6.5% to MOP248.8 billion. Public sector deposits with the banking sector increased 1.0% to MOP122.9 billion. As a result, total deposits with the banking sector fell 2.3% from a month earlier to MOP845.4 billion. The shares of MOP, HKD, CNY and USD in total deposits were 19.4%, 41.2%, 13.4% and 21.9% respectively. Loans Domestic loans to the private sector increased 2.2% from a month ago to MOP384.1 billion. Among which, MOP102.7 billion was MOP-denominated, MOP252.1 billion was denominated in HKD, MOP3.3 billion was denominated in CNY and MOP23.5 billion was denominated in USD, representing 26.7%, 65.6%, 0.8% and 6.1% of the total respectively. On the other hand, external loans grew 0.6% to MOP387.9 billion; of which, loans denominated in MOP, HKD, CNY and USD accounted for 1.5% (MOP5.7 billion), 22.0% (MOP85.4 billion), 20.3% (MOP78.9 billion) and 50.8% (MOP197.2 billion) respectively. Operating ratios The loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at end-July grew 1.6 percentage points from the previous month to 64.4%. The ratio for both the resident and non-resident sectors also rose 3.3 percentage points to 91.3%. The one-month and three-month current assets to liabilities ratios stayed at relatively high levels, marked at 56.3% and 59.0% respectively. At end-July, the non-performing loan ratio, an indicator for bank asset quality, was 0.1%, virtually stable when compared with the previous month and the same period last year.
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Acting Chief Executive, Mr Wong Sio Chak, said Macao people’s salvation efforts during the anti-Japanese war fully demonstrated the tradition of patriotism, and the sense of country-loving would continue to foster sustainable development of the city. Mr Wong said this today when he presided over the commemorative ceremony of the 70th anniversary of victory of the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and world anti-Fascist war held at the Tap Seac Square. He said he hoped the young generation would learn from history, prevent history from repeating, and treasure the stable social environment which was driven by peace-loving forces and the strength of development. With the full support from the country, Macao had achieved unprecedented social economics development since its return to the motherland and by the successful implementation of the “one country, two systems”, he said. Mr Wong urged the public to seize the development opportunities brought by the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative to continue to push forward the process of the city. Also delivered a speech at today’s ceremony, community representative Mr Tong Chi Kin said the holding of the commemorative ceremony shown the people had never forgotten the suffering and humiliation during the difficult time, to honour martyrs and cherish peace. Youth representative Mr Leong Chi Hou said during his speech that young students should always remember the selfless dedication of the older generations and revolutionaries, and treasure the hard-won peace. The ceremony was attended by Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR, Mr Yao Jin; Deputy Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in the Macao SAR, Mr Cai Siping; Director of the Politic Department of the People Liberation Army Macao Garrison, Mr Zhang Jian; together with about 440 government officials and representatives of the community. The ceremony included flag raising, playing and singing of National Anthem, wreath laying, silence tribute ceremony, and revolutionary songs performed by members of the Women’s General Association of Macau and the Kao Yip Middle School.
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Four new student-run shops have opened on the University of Macau’s (UM) campus. UM launched these shops to give students an opportunity to learn how to run a business and to provide more choices and convenience for UM members. Student founders say that running a shop on campus helps them put their knowledge into practice and increases their sense of belonging to the university. The shop of Creatist – a brand for UM souvenirs – is located in the University Gallery (E1). The brand was co-founded by six UM students. ‘We’ve encountered various problems in organisation, management, and promotion,’ says a co-founder surnamed Lai. ‘Despite these problems, we will work hard to launch more UM souvenirs for students to increase their sense of belonging to the university.’ Another student-run shop, Umake, is located in the Sports Complex (N8). Handmade postcards are Umake’s main products but it also sells light snacks. The founder surnamed Cai, who is a student from the Faculty of Business Administration, says: ‘I have talked to some senior students and friends who have opened a shop before and learned a lot from them.’ On The Run is another student-run shop at UM. In line with UM’s commitment to promoting sustainable transport on the campus, the shop provides bike purchase and maintenance services. It also provides parcel collection and delivery services on the side for UM members. The founder surnamed Li, who is a student from the Faculty of Science and Technology, says ‘We hope to provide low-cost bike services for students and a training opportunity for those who want to enter this industry.’ Miss U is a snack shop aiming to provide more dining choices for UM members. A student surnamed Wan from the Faculty of Social Sciences, who is also the founder of the shop, says ‘Opening a snack shop has always been my dream. I really appreciate this opportunity and will collect feedback from our customers and continuously improve the service.’ Besides providing opportunities for students to start their own businesses, UM also provides support in shop design, promotion, and performance evaluation. Later this academic year, UM will open a new convenience store, a new cafe, and a new furniture shop, to give UM members more choices and more convenience.
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Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, re-iterated that the retrenchment measures would not affect public expenditure on infrastructure, betterment of livelihood and social welfare. Mr Chui told reporters this today before he left for Beijing with a 100-member delegation to attend official events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory of the Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and world anti-Fascist war. He said the measures, for all government departments and autonomous bodies, aimed to lower internal spending, and assured the Government was financially stable, adding there were lots of development opportunities, such as non-gaming features and regional co-operation. He also disclosed there would be a string of measures to strengthen tourism promotion and to create more opportunities for the development of small-and medium-sized enterprises and for employment of the people. Macao as a world destination of tourism, the Government will actively diverse the source of tourists, as currently visitors mainly come from the mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, said Mr Chui. When asked about the Wealth Partaking Scheme for next year, Mr Chui responded that it would depend on the financial surplus, at the moment he could not make any commitment. He said he understood the fruit-sharing scheme was popular and he personally hoped there would be adequate surplus to continue the Scheme next year, but the Government had to follow the Basic Law in keeping expenditure within the limit of revenue. For salary adjustment of civil servants, Mr Chui said there were a number of factors to consider, such as the purchasing power of the workers, inflation, financial condition, overall economic environment and adjustment rate in the private sector, the Government is now waiting for such report from the consultative council for pay offer of civil servants. In addition, Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Chan Hoi Fan, also said today that all departments under her supervision would follow the measure of cutting unnecessary spending, when she met the press after the inauguration ceremony of Director of the Public Administration and Civic Service Bureau. Speaking to the press on 1 September, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Tam Chon Weng, assured stricter financial measures would not affect the spending on social welfare, especially health service, social security, education and cultural affairs. He said the Government would consider increasing resources input for healthcare, education and cultural affairs.
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The Macao Customs detected a suspected case of a chain jewelry group selling counterfeit products. Among the 8 chaine stores of the jewelry group, 5 of them are ‘Certified Shops’. The Council has already frozen the entitlement of those shops to the ‘Certified Shop’ emblem, and will decide whether to suspend the shops’ entitlement later when investigation is completed and verdict is made. Consumer Council indicates that the ‘Certified Shop’ mechanism consists of different measures, including the evaluation system, consumers’ complaints, and information from other departments, to ensure good sales practices and service quality of ‘Certified Shops’. The Council was informed by Macao Customs of a suspected case of selling counterfeit products by a chain jewelry group. 5 out of the 8 shops of the group belong to the ‘Certified Shop’ mechanism, and the Council has already retrieved the emblems from the shops right away. Once investigation is completed and verdict is made, the Council will follow up according to the ‘Certified Shops’ assessment mechanism, which states that ‘Certified Shops’ involving in any illegal administrative acts will be penalized - 10 points will be deducted from the annual assessment points and entitlement to the ‘Certified Shop’ emblem will be suspended for six months for those involving in serious acts. Should it be a criminal offence, entitlement to the ‘Certified Shop’ emblem will be suspended for 3 years. The Council indicates that continuous training and monitoring have been carried out in recent years to enhance the quality of the ‘Certified Shops’ team. Any behavior infringing the rights of consumers and the ‘Certified Shops’ team will not be tolerated. Consumers are also urged to report to the Council any behaviors on the market that infringe consumer rights. The Council states that one of the shops are found to have no ‘Certified Shop’ emblem at their shopfront, and 5 shops are involved in the current case.
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