News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI increased by 1.53% year-on-year to 108.67 in November 2016, an increase from the 1.33% growth in October. The increment was attributable to higher charges for eating out, dearer rentals for parking spaces, increases in property management fees and tuition fees, as well as rising prices of motor cars and vegetables. Among the various sections of goods and services, price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages that accounted for the largest share of household expenditure rose by 2.09% year-on-year. Price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+7.47%), Education (+7.38%) and Transport (+6.70%) also increased. On the other hand, price index of Communication, Housing & Fuels and Recreation & Culture decreased by 2.02%, 1.36% and 0.31% respectively. The CPI-A (108.76) and CPI-B (107.95) went up by 1.38% and 2.76% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for November 2016 increased by 0.29% month-to-month. Price index of Clothing & Footwear and Health rose by 3.68% and 1.24% respectively on account of new arrival of winter clothing & footwear and higher charges for out-patient services. Moreover, price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages went up by 0.40% owing to higher prices of vegetables & fruits and dearer charges for eating out; meanwhile, receding price of fresh pork tapered off part of the increase. By contrast, lower charges for package tours pushed down the price index of Recreation & Culture by 0.97%. In addition, declining rentals for dwellings offset the rise in water charges and Liquefied Petroleum Gas price, bringing the price index of Housing & Fuels slightly down by 0.09%. The CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 0.30% and 0.18% respectively month-to-month. For the 12 months ended November 2016, the average Composite CPI grew by 2.56% from the previous period. Price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+24.25%), Education (+8.53%) and Transport (+6.81%) showed marked increase. The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 2.51% and 3.02% respectively over the previous period. The average Composite CPI for the first eleven months of 2016 increased by 2.46% year-on-year; the average CPI-A and CPI-B went up by 2.39% and 3.03% respectively. The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general households in Macao. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP29,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP30,000 to MOP54,999.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals in November 2016 were similar over the same month of 2015, at 2,588,645, including 109 visitors travelling under the “cross-border yacht sailing scheme” which became effective as from 23rd November. Compared to the previous month, visitor arrivals in November decreased by 3.4%. Overnight visitors rose by 10.4% year-on-year to 1,374,752, accounting for 53.1% of the total, while same-day visitors dropped by 9.7% to 1,213,893. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days; the average stay of overnight visitors and same-day visitors was 2.1 days and 0.2 day respectively. Visitors from Mainland China decreased by 1.2% year-on-year to 1,705,721 in November, of which those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme increased by 2.1% to 791,007. Mainland visitors came mainly from Guangdong Province (716,282), Hunan Province (80,061) and Fujian Province (68,247). Both Hong Kong (505,216) and Taiwan visitors (83,498) dropped by 1.4%, of which visitors from Taiwan recorded the first decline after 16 consecutive months of year-on-year increases. Visitors from the Republic of Korea (62,009) and Japan (34,142) surged by 34.6% and 25.4% respectively. Long-haul visitors from the United States (20,814), Canada (8,370) and the United Kingdom (6,420) increased year-on-year, while those from Australia (8,020) decreased. Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land decreased by 3.1% year-on-year to 1,427,238; those arriving through the Border Gate (1,242,997) dropped by 5.0% while those through the Checkpoint of Cotai (182,650) rose by 12.5%. Visitor arrivals by sea increased by 2.3% year-on-year to 961,480; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour (576,332) and the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (385,148) grew by 0.6% and 12.0% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air increased by 13.3% year-on-year to 199,927, with 199,053 arriving at the airport. In the first eleven months of 2016, visitor arrivals totalled 28,135,886, up slightly by 0.2% year-on-year; overnight visitors rose by 9.1% to 14,153,210 while same-day visitors dropped by 7.4% to 13,982,676. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days; the average stay of overnight visitors rose by 0.1 day to 2.2 days whereas that of same-day visitors remained stable at 0.2 day. Visitors from Mainland China (18,668,340) and Hong Kong (5,814,967) decreased by 0.5% and 2.2% respectively year-on-year, while those from the Republic of Korea (591,581) and Taiwan (979,839) increased by 18.5% and 8.5%. Moreover, visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom registered year-on-year growth.
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The Central Government has affirmed the SAR Government’s work and would continuously pledge its full support to Macao for further economic development and enhancement of the livelihoods of Macao’s people, said today the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On.Mr Chui was speaking to reporters in Beijing this afternoon as he concluded his annual duty visit after he was today received by the President Xi Jinping and the Premier of the State Council, Li Keqiang. During the meetings with the state leaders, the Chief Executive presented his report regarding Macao’s situation and its development during the past 12 months and also outlined the Government’s policies for 2017.During his four-day visit, Mr Chui additionally had meetings with, respectively, the Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, Mr Wang Guangya; and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Mr Zhang Dejiang.Mr Chui said the state leaders had affirmed the direction of the Government’s efforts in implementing several policies over the past year. They included: the effort to develop Macao’s strategic positioning as a world centre of tourism and leisure, and a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and the Portuguese speaking countries (collectively known as “Centre and Platform” policies); and to ensure the work done under the city’s Five-Year Development Plan complemented the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan.Mr Chui said that under a plan approved by the Central Government, Macao is to have more involvement in the development of the country’s Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (collectively known as the “Belt and Road” initiative),Macao would press ahead in cooperating – in areas such as tourism, financial services and the enhancement of social wellbeing – with more than 60 countries and regions covered in the “Belt and Road” initiative.The Government would set up a work committee, supervised by the Chief Executive’s Office, to coordinate efforts regarding how to press ahead with specific forms of such cooperation, in particular with mainland provinces close to Macao, such as Guangdong and Fujian.The “Belt and Road” initiative would result in a great number of development opportunities for Macao, Mr Chui said.In addition, Mr Chui also commented on Macao’s economic prospects for 2017. The Government believed the city’s economy would expand next year, he said. Mr Chui noted the Government had been able to maintain balanced finances and budget surpluses during the economic adjustment period in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, Macao’s budget surplus had been 25.2 billion patacas; the Government was confident there would be also a surplus in 2016, without wishing to commit at this stage to a specific figure.Mr Chui stressed public expenditure on long-term policy mechanisms relating to social wellbeing and to welfare measures would not be negatively affected by economic adjustment.Regarding the development of surrounding waters that are to be administered by Macao, Mr Chui said the Government was taking three steps to prepare gradually for economic development of the 85 square kilometres concerned. The measures covered: preparation of legislation; the strengthening of management processes; and the conduct of research relating to the local maritime economy and to the overall development of Macao.Regarding an idea expressed by some people – that allowing the importation of non-resident workers for vehicle driver positions would be positive for the Macao economy – Mr Chui said the Government needed to study the matter in depth, in order to ensure a scientific approach to decisions on that subject.Officials accompanying the Chief Executive on his duty visit included: the Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive's Office, Ms O Lam; the Director of the Government Information Bureau, Mr Chan Chi Ping; and the Director of the Protocol, Public Relations and External Affairs Office, Mr Fung Sio Weng.
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Consumer Council conducted its specific price survey on tissue papers, household cleansing products, and oral care products on 23 December for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 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, as well as on the Council’s WeChat account page. For inquiry, please call the Council’s hotline: 8988 9315.
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Results of the 2016 Population By-census indicated that the population of Macao totalled 650,900 in August 2016, an increase of 17.8% compared to 552,503 in 2011 Census. Average annual growth rate of Macao population was 3.3% over the past five years, higher than the average growth of 1.9% during 2006 to 2011. Number of households totalled 188,600, up by 10.4% compared to five years ago. Average household size was 3.06 persons per household, a slight decrease from 3.08 persons in 2011. The youth population (aged 0-14) totalled 77,900, comprising 12.0% of the total population, similar to that in 2011. The adult population (aged 15-64) totalled 513,600, with its proportion in total population falling by 1.9 percentage points from five years ago to 78.9%. The elderly population (aged 65 and above) totalled 59,400, with its proportion rising by 1.9 percentage points to 9.1%. Non-resident workers living in Macao soared by 68.8% from five years ago to 105,200. Local population, excluding non-resident workers and foreign students, totalled 536,400, up by 10.5%. Median age of the total population increased from 37.0 in 2011 to 37.5 in 2016 whereas that of the local population rose by 0.7 year to 38.8. Male population totalled 314,000 and female population totalled 336,800, accounting for 48.2% and 51.8% of the total population respectively. Gender ratio was 93.2, corresponding to 93.2 males per 100 females, a slight increase from 92.3 in 2011. Meanwhile, gender ratio of the local population was 90.2, a further decline from 92.7 five years ago. Among the total population, 284,100 were born in Mainland China, accounting for 43.6% of the total, and 265,100 were born in Macao, at 40.7%. Population density stood at 21,400 persons per km2, up by 15.9% from 18,478 persons in 2011. With the completion of public housing units in Taipa and Coloane, coupled with an increase in foreign students, significant population growth was observed in ‘Coloane Island’(+531%), ‘Pac On & Taipa Grande’(+127%) and ‘Universidade & Baía de Pac On’(+99%). Analysed by population size, ‘Areia Preta & Iao Hon’ remained the most populated district, accounting for 11.8% of the total population. It was followed by ‘Baixa da Taipa’ and ‘NATAP’, comprising 10.4% and 9.9% of the population respectively. Global results of the 2016 Population By-census will be released in April next year.
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Tickets have been selling well for the programmes of the 16th Macao City Fringe Festival organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and co-orgainsed by the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, since they became available in December. Tickets for some sessions of many programmes such as “Mobile Kitchen”, “Zuò Zuò Tea House”, “A Little Bird Lost Its Way”, “The Smooth Life” and “The Other Side of the Sacred” have been sold out already, with a few tickets left for the remaining sessions. The public are advised to purchase tickets as soon as possible. The 16th Macao City Fringe Festival, which has taken “A Feast of Creativity! Bon Appétit!” as a slogan, will be held from 13 to 22 January 2017, offering 23 distinctive programmes and a total of 70 performances to indulge audiences in a delicious banquet of arts. Aside from “Mobile Kitchen” and “Zuò Zuò Tea House”, Circolando (Portugal)’s “Night” will debut on the first day of the Festival, featuring a trio of men who will encourage us, through their intensely physical and emotional dance, to question our language and aesthetics and to search for other ways. Also being presented will be the world-acclaimed performance “Antiwords”, where actresses will stimulate audience’s imagination with absurd humor as drunken characters through their simple dialogue and rich body language. The Festival is now calling for registration for its first round of extended activities to be launched starting from 5th January next year. They include “Workshop on Environmental Dance Theatre”, in which participants will experience the true moment of dancing in the environment under the guidance of the experienced choreographers Nina Dipla and Candy Kuok, and may be selected to perform in “The Other Side of the Sacred”. In the “Thematic talks: Foreign Theatre – Body, Memory and Labour” under “Fringe Reviews 2017”, artists and performing groups of different fields will share their residential creation experiences from overseas. Tickets are now available at the Macau Ticketing Network. Holders of ICBC cards including ICBC Credit Card, ICBC Debit Card and ICBC Prepaid Card can enjoy a 10% discount for ticket purchases over MOP200. For more details on the programmes, please visit the Macao City Fringe Festival website: www.macaucityfringe.gov.mo. 24 hours Ticketing Hotline: 28555555. Ticketing website: www.macauticket.com
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Macao Post will increase a new eLocker service station on 28th December 2016. The electronic locker will be located at the Ocean Garden Post Office (Rua do Jardim, Jardins do Oceano, Azalea Court, Taipa). As the largest locker station at the moment, this eLocker includes 144 lockers, providing round-the-clock service to the local residents. It also equipped with the application function of Secure Electronic Postal Box - SEPBox. Since the launching of eLocker, 4 service stations have been established, which locate at Central Post Office, Nova Taipa, Macau University and Ocean Garden, forming a service network across the territory. In future, eLocker will continue to increase more service locations, add new features and expand the service capabilities to provide a convenient, fast and secure one-stop electronic service. For details of eLocker, please visit our website: www.macaupost.gov.mo/elocker, or email us at: elocker@macaupost.gov.mo.
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Having regard to the ATM cash withdrawal needs of citizens and visitors during the Christmas holidays (i.e. from 24 to 27 December 2016), the Monetary Authority of Macao has urged all banks that are providing ATM services to put pertinent arrangements in place, including enhanced surveillance of the functioning of ATMs for timely replenishment of banknotes and clear display on ATMs of the 24-hour customer service hotlines. If necessary, citizens and visitors can contact the relevant banks via these hotlines.
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The gaming industry might be the first to come to mind when thinking about the entertainment sector in Macao. The Macao entertainment sector is however diverse and has stimulated a wide range of economic activities. It includes the development of digital technologies, management systems and video games. The 4th MGS Entertainment Show – Creativity and Innovation, held in mid-November and organised by the Macau Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Association (MGEMA), has made Macao a platform to showcase to professional buyers from around the world the most up-to-date digital equipment and technology within the industry. MGS has also broadened the horizons of Macao residents and tourists in terms of how they think about the city. Apart from the exhibition, MGS organised a three-day summit that was also of great benefit to professional buyers, exhibitors and general visitors. Jay Chun, Chairman of the show’s organiser MGEMA, says he is satisfied with the overall achievements of MGS, adding that he hopes to see the trade show expand year-by-year and to enlarge its non-gaming elements. This, he says, would help other related sectors to grow in Macao. Steady development for MGS Entertainment Show The fourth edition of MGS showcased – in a single event – games, entertainment solutions, and leisure and related services. Under the theme “Creativity and Innovation”, the trade show incorporated a large range of non-gaming elements, including products and services from cultural and creative industries, and from science and technology industries. There were four main exhibition areas, covering: cultural and creative topics; future technology and innovation; visual media; and entertainment and tourism. The show attracted to Macao more than 750 senior managers and policymakers from around the world, who attended the event in order to gather information on the latest entertainment trends. The event also opened its doors to the public, welcoming 14,847 visitors during its three days. Mr Chun says that as well as hosting Macao’s six gaming concessionaires and sub-concessionaires, the show also drew exhibiting companies from several fields, including those of the entertainment, digital technology and cultural and creative industries. Such companies included exhibitors from Europe, North America, South Korea and the Philippines. There were a total of 170 exhibitors in this year’s show, a 20 percent increase compared to the previous year. Mr Chun also points out that MGS has been growing gradually, with increases year-on-year in the number of professional buyers attending the show. He hopes that MGS can continue growing steadily over the coming years. The three-day Summit at this year’s event covered three major topics, namely: “New Policy and Regulatory”; “Investment Opportunity”; and “Gaming/Creativity/Innovation/Culture”. The Summit proved to be a great platform to promote interaction and exchange among attendees. Keynote speakers at the Summit came from Mainland China, the United States, Australia, Vietnam and Macao. In addition, Paulo Martins Chan, Director of Macao’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, as well as professors from Macao Polytechnic Institute, and other industry experts, delivered speeches during the Summit. With the discussion centred on the future development of Macao’s gaming industry, the speakers focused their attention on the business model of the entertainment sector, including investment opportunities and technology innovation. Such discussion yielded benefits for all. Number of major MICE activities grows Macao is to host a number of international large-scale events in the first quarter of 2017, including the “13th China Expo Forum for International Co-operation (CEFCO 2017)”, which will be held for the first time outside Mainland China. Several international professional conferences will also be held in Macao during the first quarter of 2017, including the “International Forum for E-Commerce Industry Development” (with more than 10,000 participants expected); and the “10th International Conference on Computational Physics (ICCP10)”, which has invited a Nobel Prize winner to deliver a speech and share his important research achievements with the audience. For more information, please visit the official website of IPIM: http://www.ipim.gov.mo.
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Dr Lei Ka-Meng, a lecturer under the ‘Macao Fellow’ programme at the University of Macau, will be a visiting scholar at the Harvard University for a two-year term starting in mid-2017. During his stay, Dr Lei will explore a parallel nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) platform combining advanced microfluidic, magnetic-sensing and integrated circuits technologies, with the aim of substantially reducing the cost and time of NMR experiments. Dr Lei was born and raised in Macao. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from UM in 2012, and he was among the first cohort to graduate from UM’s Honours College. He began to be involved in challenging research projects of the State-Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI in his third year of undergraduate studies. One of his research works led to a paper published in an SCI journal; another paper was presented at the Asia Symposium on Quality Electronic Design 2013, and was one of the three papers out of 57 to receive the Best Paper Award. Because of his outstanding research capability, after receiving his bachelor’s degree he was directly admitted for PhD studies at UM, under the co-supervision of Prof Mak Pui In, Dr Law Man Kay, and Prof Rui Martins. For his PhD research, Dr Lei worked on a new multi-disciplinary direction - CMOS nuclear magnetic resonance system for point-of-care diagnosis, which makes possible intelligent detection of biological targets on a handheld platform. The two prototypes he developed were reported in the most prestigious journals and conferences in the field. In October 2015, he made an oral presentation at the International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, which has an acceptance rate of 9% for oral presentations. At the Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), held in November of the same year, he presented a paper, demonstrated his work for the Student Design Contest, and received the Distinguished Design Award. Subsequently, he was invited to submit his work to a special issue of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits (JSSC). In February 2016, he presented his work developed in collaboration with the University of Pavia, Italy, at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) and received the ISSCC Silkroad Award, which is given to outstanding students from Asia, Australia, and the Pacific region. In addition, this work was selected for live demonstration during the conference. It was the first time a work from Macao, Hong Kong, and mainland China had been selected for live demonstration at ISSCC. The related paper was selected as one of the ISSCC Technical Highlights of the conference. Because of the excellent performance of his work at the conference, he was invited to submit a full-length paper to a special issue of the JSSC. It is scheduled to be published in January 2017. In February 2017, Dr Lei will receive the prestigious Predoctoral Achievement Award from the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society, which is awarded to an elite group of outstanding graduate students in the area of solid-state circuits. His PhD thesis will be expanded into a research book to be published by the Springer, the world’s largest science publisher, in 2017. Our pride is founded on the fact that such extraordinary student accomplishments are rare, perhaps unheard-of, even among prestigious universities of the world.
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