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The Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS), jointly conducted by the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) and the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) since 2002 in compliance with the International Monetary Fund’s statistical methodology, is aimed at collecting information on Macao residents’ investment in securities issued by unrelated non-residents, in terms of market value and geographical distribution. The results as at end-2015 are summarised as follows: On 31 December 2015, investment of Macao residents (including individuals, the government and other legal entities but excluding Macao’s foreign exchange reserves) in securities issued by unrelated non-residents reached MOP438.8 billion at current market value, which remained virtually unchanged from end-June 2015 yet increased by 10.0% year-on-year. Among various instruments of portfolio investment, equity securities, long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities were valued at MOP170.1 billion, MOP247.3 billion and MOP21.5 billion respectively. In comparison with end-2014, investment in equity securities, of which mutual funds and investment trust units amounted to MOP41.8 billion, increased by 10.0%. Investment in long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities grew by 8.0% and 40.9% respectively. By geographical distribution, the Asian region continued to make up the largest share of Macao residents’ external portfolio investment, at 63.5%. The rest was mainly placed in the North Atlantic and Caribbean (12.2%), Europe (10.5%), North America (10.0%) and Oceania (3.2%). Investment in securities issued by Mainland Chinese entities, including those securities listed on non-Mainland exchanges, continued to assume the leading position, occupying 46.7% of local residents’ portfolio investment outside Macao. Its market value reached MOP205.1 billion, registering an increase of 6.4% from end-2014. The investment consisted of MOP51.5 billion in equity securities, MOP140.5 billion in long-term debt securities and MOP13.0 billion in short-term debt securities, constituting 30.3%, 56.8% and 60.8% of the respective total. On the other hand, the share of investment in securities issued by Hong Kong entities fell from 18.3% at end-2014 to 13.2%, with the corresponding market value decreasing by 20.8% to MOP57.9 billion, of which equity securities and long-term debt securities amounted to MOP37.8 billion and MOP15.1 billion respectively. Macao residents’ portfolio investment in the North Atlantic and Caribbean continued to increase. The market value of investment in this region rose by 29.6% from end-2014 to MOP53.4 billion, with its share in the total investment abroad rising from 10.3% to 12.2%. In particular, the market value of portfolio investment in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda grew by 8.1%, 86.8% and 27.1% year-on-year to MOP27.0 billion, MOP18.1 billion and MOP8.2 billion respectively. Although the share of investment in European securities dipped by 0.1 percentage point from end-2014 to 10.5%, the corresponding market value increased by 9.4% to MOP46.2 billion. Among European countries, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Ireland represented larger portions with market values of MOP11.7 billion, MOP11.3 billion, MOP5.2 billion and MOP5.1 billion respectively. The bulk of investment in North America was placed in the United States. The market value of Macao residents’ investment in US securities soared considerably by 81.4% from end-2014 to MOP41.0 billion, pushing the corresponding share in the total portfolio investment abroad up from 5.7% to 9.3%. Of which, the market value of investment in mutual funds and investment trust units surged by 184.0% to MOP10.7 billion, representing the largest share in the corresponding category. As at end-2015, Macao residents’ investment in securities issued by Australian entities increased by 55.8% year-on-year to MOP14.1 billion at market value, lifting the share of portfolio investment in Oceania from 2.3% to 3.2%.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 2,477,591 in May 2016, up slightly by 0.3% month-to-month and yet down by 2.8% year-on-year. Same-day visitors dropped by 8.3% year-on-year to 1,272,242, whereas overnight visitors rose by 3.8% to 1,205,349. The average length of stay of visitors increased by 0.1 day year-on-year to 1.2 days; the average stay of same-day visitors and overnight visitors was 0.2 day and 2.2 days respectively. Visitors from Mainland China decreased by 3.5% year-on-year to 1,631,164 in May 2016, of which those travelling under the Individual Visit Scheme dropped by 4.6% to 718,680. Overnight Mainland visitors (780,408) increased by 4.7%. Mainland visitors came mainly from Guangdong Province (727,443), Hunan Province (70,514) and Fujian Province (64,950). Visitors from the Republic of Korea (48,109) and Hong Kong (500,973) decreased by 8.0% and 4.1% respectively year-on-year, while those from Taiwan (81,404) increased by 6.5%. Long-haul visitors from the United States (15,519) and the United Kingdom (5,000) decreased year-on-year; however, those from Australia (7,971) and Canada (6,498) increased. Analyzed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by land increased by 3.8% year-on-year to 1,436,616; those arriving through the Border Gate (1,266,803) and the Checkpoint of Cotai (167,928) rose by 3.8% and 4.1% respectively. Visitor arrivals by sea decreased by 14.1% year-on-year to 851,903; those disembarking at the Outer Harbour (511,674) and the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa (340,229) fell by 16.5% and 3.1% respectively. Visitor arrivals by air increased by 9.3% year-on-year to 189,072, with 188,286 arriving at the airport. In the first five months of 2016, visitor arrivals totalled 12,405,950, down marginally by 0.8% year-on-year; same-day visitors dropped by 7.2% to 6,467,867 while overnight visitors rose by 7.2% to 5,938,083. Visitors from Mainland China (8,224,795) and Hong Kong (2,546,624) decreased by 1.5% and 3.2% year-on-year, whereas those from the Republic of Korea (265,691) and Taiwan (424,419) increased by 1.3% and 10.2% respectively. Moreover, long-haul visitors from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom registered year-on-year increase.
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Consumer Council conducted its fourth ‘Supermarket price survey’ in June on 22 June for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included 14 supermarkets in Toi San, Ilha Verde and Fai Chi Kei areas in N. Sra. de Fátima Parish. The latest ‘Supermarket Price Survey’ is now available on Consumer Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. The survey is also available free of charge at the offices of Consumer Council, IACM’s Iao Hon and S. Domingos Markets, bookstores and libraries. With reference to the local seven parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided around 100 supermarkets into 8 areas for price collection. The Council collects prices from these supermarkets for the provision of a more comprehensive database for consumers to check price discrepancies and make price comparisons according to their desired locations. For inquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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The Government respects and welcomes a decision made today by the Court of Final Appeal: the rulling reaffirms the Government decision to declare null and void a land concession – relating to five plots – that had previously been granted to a firm called Moon Ocean Ltd. The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, has directed the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Raimundo do Rosário, to initiate the relevant processes that will allow for the reallocation and reuse of the five plots of land. The plots are located in the area of Avenida Wai Long and Estrada da Ponta da Cabrita, in Taipa. The Land Law, the Urban Planning Law and other existing regulations will be the basis for the processes leading to such reallocation and reuse. The Government intends to use the five plots for the benefit of the public. The Government’s preferred choice is to use the land to build public housing. According to a construction proposal by the former concessionaire, Moon Ocean, the plots covered a construction area of 537,151.705 square metres, and had been earmarked for 4,000 housing units. This information would serve as a reference point when the Government seeks to develop public housing units there. The Government, as always, pays great attention to the needs of local people with regard to public housing. The Government is committed to allocating more land resources in order to satisfy the public’s needs with regard to such matters. As an example of this commitment, the Government has proposed building 28,000 units of public housing in the new urban zone known as Area A, a reclamation site. The Government has additionally pledged that public housing would be a priority consideration for development of any so-called ‘idle plots’, i.e., cases where leaseholders failed to develop a land concession according to the timetable and terms attached to the concession, and the land had, as a consequence, reverted to the Government. The Court of Final Appeal today upheld an Executive Order – issued on 8 August, 2012 – regarding the decision to declare null and void the concession contracts for the five plots located in the area of Avenida Wai Long and Estrada da Ponta da Cabrita in Taipa. The Court’s decision was on the basis that no “flaws” were found to exist in the Executive Order of 8 August, 2012. The Court of Second Instance had rejected, on 18 June, 2015, an appeal made by Moon Ocean, asking the court to nullify that Executive Order.
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Organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the “Roaming Vision + Digital: Exhibition of Ink Paintings by Leung Kui Ting” is now open at the IACM Temporary Exhibitions Gallery. In conjunction with the exhibition, a talk entitled “Roaming Vision + Digital: Talk about the Ink Paintings by Leung Kui Ting” was held at the Macao Museum of Art on 12 June, where Leung Kui Ting was invited to introduce the concept and the structure of ink landscape paintings. The talk attracted 55 attendees in total, with Mr. Leung engaging in a passionate interaction and exchange with the participants. In the talk, Leung KuiTing mainly elaborated on creating an art compositions from the ideal landscape in one’s inner mind, sharing his artistic process of composing traditional landscape paintings with digital elements, in particular, the use of dotted lines, the combination of curved and straight lines to form various shapes, as well as the dissection of image as a puzzle to present the contrast between positive and negative space. Seeing things from a non-intuitive angle, Leung’ work embodies a concept that transcends dimensions of time and space, and the talk has helped the participants to get a deeper impression and feeling about the artists’ creations. Leung Kui Ting studied painting under renowned artist Lui Shou-kwan and design with Wucius Wong in his early years. He founded the Hong Kong Changing Institute of Visual Arts in 1980 and worked as a part-time lecturer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic Institute from 1974 to 1990. Currently, he is an art expert adviser of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong S.A.R. Government. A total of 28 exhibits by Leung Kui Ting are displayed in the exhibition. He emphasises feeling the external world with the heart in order to achieve the unity of mind and objects, so as to observe all things in the universe in the form of the objects themselves. Based on the transformation and exploration of Chinese traditional painting, his landscape ink paintings come from his heart and are abstracted from concrete appearance, instead of being mere reflections of reality. He invented a digital landscape painting technique which superimposes digital lines and dots on the outlines of mountains and rocks drawn in a traditional way, which make his contemporary art ink works truly unique. The exhibition is now open until 10 July at the IACM Temporary Exhibitions Gallery, from 9 am to 9 pm, including on public holidays. Docent services in Cantonese are available from 3 pm to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays during the exhibition period. Groups and schools are advised to make a reservation. For enquiries and reservations, please call IC through telephone no. 8988 4100, during office hours.
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Three University of Macau (UM) students from the Department of Electromechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, received the Best Paper Award at the annual symposium of the Control, Automation and Instrumentation Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, for their paper titled ‘Advanced Car Seat Design for Extendable Barrier Free Service’. The award-winning paper is co-authored by PhD student Lin Bin and master’s students Luo Zicong and Cong Yufang, and supervised by Dr Wong Seng Fat. It proposes a new barrier-free car seat design for people with disabilities based on human factors engineering, which is controlled by mobile applications and can optimise the posture in which people with disabilities enter and exit the car. The design’s potential for industrialisation was also an important contributor to its winning the award. Held at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the event attracted more than 200 experts and scholars from around the world, including experts from the Royal Academy of Engineering and Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom as well as engineers from Hong Kong. Participants discussed the future trends in the field of control, automation and instrumentation.
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Consumer Council conducted its latest ‘Supermarket price survey’ in June on 21 June for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included supermarkets near Iao Hon Market and the Border Gate area (Portas do Cerco ) in N. Sra. de Fátima Parish. The latest ‘Supermarket Price Survey’ is now available on Consumer Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ iPhone and Android apps, and on the Council’s WeChat account page. The survey is also available free of charge at the offices of Consumer Council, IACM’s Iao Hon and S. Domingos Markets, bookstores and libraries. With reference to the local seven parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided around 100 supermarkets into 8 areas for price collection. The Council collects prices from these supermarkets for the provision of a more comprehensive database for consumers to check price discrepancies and make price comparisons according to their desired locations. For inquiry, please call 8988 9315.
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The Government will step up efforts – jointly with the Guangdong Government – for the development of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, said the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, at today’s 2016 Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Joint Conference. The cooperation will include exploring development opportunities available in the countries and regions covered by the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (known as the “Belt and Road” Initiative). The Guangdong Government and the Macao Government would jointly seek to enhance trade and investment – under the principle of “One country, two systems” – in order to create a greater number of urban communities of world-class standard. The routes for cooperation were covered in a Letter of Intent – signed at today’s meeting – between Guangdong Province and the Macao Special Administrative Region regarding joint participation in the development of the “Belt and Road” Initiative. A formalised system for communication between Guangdong’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the Chief Executive’s Office will facilitate such work. The Government was also setting up a committee to coordinate Macao’s contribution to the “Belt and Road” Initiative, said Mr Chui. The 2016 Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Joint Conference was held during the morning, at the Macao East Asian Games Dome. At this year’s edition of the conference, the Guangdong Government and the Macao Government signed a total of 12 agreements that will further cooperation in the coming year. During the meeting, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, and the Vice Governor of Guangdong, Mr He Zhongyou, gave a summary of the achievements made in cooperation between the two places during the past year. They included in particular, seizing the development opportunities arising from: the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan; from the “Belt and Road” Initiative; from the Guiding Opinions of the State Council on Deepening the Cooperation Within the Pan-Pearl-River Delta Region; and from the specification of Macao’s administrative role in relation to its nearby waters. Such forms of cooperation would also create opportunities to help diversify the city’s economy and assist in the process of transforming Macao into 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 the “Centre and Platform” policies), said Mr Chui. Leading a Guangdong Government delegation at the meeting, the Governor of Guangdong Province, Mr Zhu Xiaodan, said Macao’s network of contacts in the Portuguese-speaking countries would bring a new dimension to Guangdong-Macao cooperation and the development of the “Belt and Road” Initiative. Strategies to facilitate the development of the “Belt and Road” Initiative included: the development of “Dawan area” – a logistics hub in coastal areas encompassing Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao; support to enable a greater number of companies in Guangdong and Macao to invest in the countries and regions along the routes of the “Belt and Road” Initiative; and intensification of cooperation on tourism-related matters between Guangdong and Macao, in order to expand that economic sector’s cooperation with countries and regions covered by the “Belt and Road” Initiative. During a session with the media after the meeting, Mr Chui stated that the Government is paying close attention to public opinion on a range of issues, while at the same time developing cooperation with the Guangdong Government. With regard to matters relating to the nuclear power plant in Guangdong’s Taishan Prefecture, the Government was in regular contact with the Guangdong authorities – via a mechanism established for that purpose – in order to address in a timely manner any public concern that might arise. The highlights of the cooperation plans announced at the 2016 Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Joint Conference were: - to complement the functions of the Guangdong Government and the Macao Government in order to further the development of the “Belt and Road” Initiative and to facilitate the ability of companies in Guangdong and Macao to ‘go global’; - to advance exchanges and cooperation between young people in Guangdong and Macao, and to support entrepreneurship by young people; - to make better use of opportunities arising from the Guangdong-Macao liberalisation in trade and services and from development on the mainland: consequently, Guangdong-Macao cooperation will take a greater role in the development of pilot free trade zones and in further liberalisation in trade and services, and there will be greater financial participation by Macao in key projects in Guangdong; - to promote the development of Hengqin New Area in Guangdong’s Zhuhai Prefecture; - to promote the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone; - to seek greater partnership with economic development projects in Nansha in Guangzhou, in Cuiheng in Zhongshan, and in Daguang Bay in Jiangmen; - to bolster cooperation on improving the well-being of the communities involved; - to promote simplification of boundary crossing procedures; - to advance cooperation on tourism matters; - to help promote technical and professional sectors within the communities involved;. - to bolster communication between task forces set up for Guangdong-Macao cooperation, and; - to enlarge the roles of non-governmental think tanks in the two places, in order to inspire further cooperation. The 12 agreements signed today were: - the Letter of Intent between Guangdong Province and Macao SAR for joint participation in the development of the “Belt and Road” Initiative; - the Framework Agreement between the Government of the Macao SAR and the Zhongshan Municipal People's Government regarding the promotion of innovative projects and entrepreneurship among young people; - the Cooperation Agreement on strengthening exchanges between young people in Guangdong Province and the Macao SAR; - the Cooperation Protocol between Guangdong Province and the Macao SAR on the study and implementation of the model “one exam, multiple certificates”; - the Cooperation Agreement between Guangdong Province and the Macao SAR on the creation of a task force for the development of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone; - the Framework Agreement between the Macao SAR and the Jiangmen Municipal People's Government on the development of Daguang Bay Economic Zone in Jiangmen; - the Memorandum of Cooperation on the Guangdong development fund for Guangdong-Macao cooperation; - the Framework Agreement on cooperation between Guangdong Province and the Macao SAR regarding traditional Chinese medicine; - the Memorandum of Cooperation between Guangdong Province and the Macao SAR on exchanges regarding medical affairs and health; - the Agreement on entry to Hengqin of vehicles registered in the Macao SAR; - the Cooperation Arrangement among Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao search and rescue authorities for mutual recognition of "plans for cooperation between search and rescue services and regarding passenger ships"; and; - the Memorandum of Cooperation on Guangdong-Macao tourism cooperation. The Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Joint Conference mechanism was established in 2003, with six priority projects for cooperation between the two places, including in the services sector, the Zhuhai-Macao Cross-border Industrial Zone, and research on the joint development of Hengqin.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI for May 2016 increased by 2.64% year-on-year to 108.17, down further from the 3.02% growth in April, representing the lowest year-on-year rise since August 2010. Among the various sections of goods and services, year-on-year growth in the price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Housing & Fuels, etc. showed continuous slowdown; meanwhile, the price index of Clothing & Footwear, Communication and Recreation & Culture decreased by 3.93%, 0.75% and 0.14% respectively. On the contrary, increases in tobacco tax, tuition fees, rentals for parking spaces and prices of motor cars pushed up the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, Education and Transport by 42.69%, 8.98% and 7.71% respectively year-on-year. The CPI-A (108.28) and CPI-B (107.27) rose by 2.56% and 3.40% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for May 2016 increased by 0.14% month-to-month. Higher prices of some cigarette brands drove up the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco by 4.33%. Price index of both Transport and Clothing & Footwear rose by 0.82% on account of dearer prices of gasoline and women’s summer clothing. On the other hand, notable decrease in vegetable prices offset the rise in prices of fresh pork and eating out, bringing the price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages down by 0.27%. Moreover, price index of Housing & Fuels decreased by 0.09% due to lower rentals for dwellings, but rising prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas curbed the decline. The CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 0.13% and 0.21% respectively month-to-month. For the 12 months ended May 2016, the average Composite CPI increased by 3.90% from the previous period. Price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+33.84%) and Education (+7.46%) showed marked increase. The average CPI-A and CPI-B went up by 4.04% and 3.32% respectively over the previous period. The average Composite CPI for the first five months of 2016 increased by 3.33% year-on-year, with the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, Education and Transport rising by 39.11%, 8.95% and 7.10% respectively. The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 3.33% and 3.31% respectively. The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general households. 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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The 34th Macao Young Musicians Competition, organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, this year comprising the categories of Chinese instruments and western instruments, will be held between 27 July and 5 August at the Dom Pedro V Theatre and the Institute for Tourism Studies (main campus). The contest for Special Prizes takes place at the Dom Pedro V Theatre on 7 August, with the competition spanning a total of 12 days. The Macao Young Musicians Competition has always sought to promote the development of music in Macao, raise the performance level of young musicians, offering valuable performance and learning opportunities, thereby increasing their music level and offering support and awards to young musicians with an ambition to continue their music studies. The awards consist of cash prizes and in each category a First, Second and Third prizes will be awarded as well as a Certificate of Merit and a Certificate of Competence. The organization will continue to offer Special Awards in recognition of the First, Second and Third prizes in each level, offering also the “Award for Best Group Performance”. The “Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize” will be awarded to the First Prize-winning individual among all advanced levels and it consists of a scholarship equal to the net amount of the winner’s first year tuition fee in a music-related course. Each contest takes place either in the afternoon or in the evening. Contestants must register at the respective counter at the competition venue with their valid Macao Resident Identity Card in order to collect their performance number. There are over 30 judges from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan judging the competition and at the end of each contest, the judges will make comments and will exchange points of views and share the performing skills with the participants. The competition is open to family members of the participants as well as to the general public. The jury list, the final version of the competition schedule and the sign in information are available at the Macao Young Musicians Competition’s website (www.icm.gov.mo/cjmm). For more information, please contact IC through numbers 8399 6911 or 8399 6979, during office hours.
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