News

The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, said that it was normal to see this month's gaming revenue decline year-on-year, especially when compared with last February's record breaking 38 billion Patacas. He said travelling habits might also have an impact, as people tended to travel after the Lunar New Year. Mr Leong was speaking to reporters on 10 February after attending the spring festival reception hosted by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Macao Special Administrative Region. When asked, he re-iterated that the Government paid much attention on the price of fuel, which had raised the public's concert recently. The licensing system for imported petroleum products will come into effect on 16 February, after it was approved by the Chief Executive following meetings between government officials and fuel retailers The system would require fuel retailers to provide more information on imported products such as invoices, supply prices and the quantities imported. This information would help give the Government a better understanding on how retail prices are decided and to evaluate the impact of price fluctuations on the people, Mr Leong said. In the long term, the Government would introduce legislation on the protection of consumer's rights and interests, authorising related departments to act against any irregular behaviour, he said.
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The Government has launched a string of measures, including the new application for portable devices, to help shorten the waiting time for medical services and make best use of resources in public and private clinics. The mobile app, "The Health Bureau information platform", has real-time updates on the waiting list in both public and private clinics, information of clinics and practitioners, and by scanning the QR Code in the service slip, the users can check their services status and prescription history. The app, available in Chinese and Portuguese, can be downloaded in App Store and Google Play. The Government also enlarged the information pool to include subsidised medical networks, including private hospital Kiang Wu and specific non-profit clinics. Qualified residents are eligible for subsidy in seeking treatment in emergency ward every 48 hours and a fixed amount in non-profit clinics. The Government had also launched a website and hotline to give people better grasps on the situation of medical services.
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On 7 February, Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) joined hands with the Korean Franchise Association (KFA) to organise a training seminar on the "Best Practices of Branding, Marketing and Human Resources Management of Korean Enterprises"for Macao SMEs at IPIM's Macao Business Support Centre, with the aim of encouraging them to learn about the marketing, promotion and management strategies of overseas enterprises. The seminar attracted the participation of over 160 representatives from business associations and SMEs in different sectors. Echo Chan, Executive Director of IPIM attended the opening ceremony of the event. Other participants included Antonio Chui Yuk Lam, Director General of Association of Industrial Association of Macao, Suki Iao and Tim Sio, Director General and Deputy Director General of Macao Chain Stores and Franchise Association, Sidney Mok, Vice Chairman of Association Small & Medium Enterprises United Macao, etc. The organisers hoped that by arranging such events, will help better meet SMEs need for sustainable development and influence their business capacity, thus building a stronger foundation to establish their brands. IPIM will also organise a series of events suitable for SMEs in the next few months, including seminar on the "Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone", E-commerce workshop as well as presentations on business opportunities in Portuguese-speaking countries. The speaker of the seminar was Hahm Junghoon, Managing Director and Policy Team Manager of KFA. During the seminar, Mr. Hahm covered various topics such as the Korean franchise industry development and trends, shop and human resource management, technology applications and case sharing. Two major Korean brands, Kim Ildo, CEO and founder of 1℃ Family Restaurant and Bae Myoungsook, International Business Director of Korean restaurant brand "Namzatang" shared on the pains and gains encountered during their brand development. During the question and answer session, participants sought advice from the speakers on issues such as franchise operations, training, shop location strategy and financial management. A study trip to Seoul will be organised by IPIM in the second quarter of the year. The course contents and itinerary of the study trip will be planned by KFA, including site visits to Korean franchise brand stores. The delegation will consist of Macao SME representatives from different industries and it is hoped that this will further enable Macao SMEs to learn from the successful management and operations of Korean enterprises.
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The University of Macau's (UM) PhD programmes, master's programmes, and postgraduate certificate programmes for the 2015/2016 academic year are now open for applications. In the new academic year, UM's Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Faculty of Business Administration, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, and Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences will collectively offer more than 80 postgraduate degree programmes and postgraduate certificate programmes. As the best public university in Macao, UM adopts a governance and management system in line with international practice and standards. It has been ranked among the top in Asia in terms of the degree of internationalisation of the faculty body and research management. UM has also gained increasing international recognition for its achievements in teaching, research, and community service. In 2014, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked UM among the world's top 300 universities. In recent years, UM has stepped up efforts to globally recruit top scholars, and so far it has hired more than 20 chair professors and distinguished professors. UM has established two state-key laboratories, namely the State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI and the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine. With the new campus becoming operational, UM is now able to offer more academic programmes, explore new research frontiers, and provide more lab facilities for students and faculty. In addition to pursuing the goal of becoming a world-class university, UM is also committed to promoting the development of Macao. In recent years, UM has produced a large number of exemplary graduates in various fields to promote the moderate economic diversification of Macao and to support Macao in developing into an international leisure and tourism destination, as well as a trading service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. In view of the Macao SAR government's policy on talent development, which aims to encourage young people to pursue further education and to provide opportunities for upward mobility, UM has revised the course requirements for most of its master's degree programmes. Students enrolled in the master's degree programmes can choose to write either an academic thesis or an applied thesis to fulfill graduation requirements. The deadline for postgraduate applications is 31 March 2015. Those who are interested should complete online registration at http://www.umac.mo/grs. For enquiries, please call 8822 4898 or email to gradschool@umac.mo.
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Co-organising a major exhibition with a renowned player in the industry would not only boost the development of Macao's MICE industry but further diversify Macao's economic structure, according to Chief Executive Mr Chui Sai On. Mr Chui said this on 9 February in a meeting at the Government Headquarters with the President of the German company Messe Düsseldorf, Mr Werner Dornscheidt. The company, with Macao's operators of the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) industry, is co-organising a media exhibition in Macao in the third quarter of next year. Mr Chui said the Government would give full support to the exhibition and hoped it would become one of Macao's signature events. He said he was happy to know the exhibition's working group had signed a memorandum of co-operation, signifying that preparation work was in full swing. Economic diversification is a long-term strategic development. Promoting the MICE, culture and creative, and traditional Chinese medicine, would further expand Macao's economic scopes, he said. Mr Dornscheidt said the memorandum would provide more co-operation opportunities for his company, the Macao government, the working group and the industry. He said the exhibition would bring more innovation to the industry and attract more international participants. He hoped it would become a world-class level project. Also present at the meeting were the Chief-of-Office of the Chief Executive's Office Ms O Lam and the Director of the Government Information Bureau, Mr Chan Chi Ping, representatives of the working group including the Director of Macao Daily News Mr Lok Po, Vice President of the Macao Convention & Exhibition Association Ms Lo Tak Wah, and the President of German Macau Business Association, Mr Un Chong San.
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Consumer Council conducted its second 'Supermarket price survey' in February on 9 February 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), and the 'Supermarket Price Information Platform' iPhone and Android apps. 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. Consumers may also access the resources through WAP channels on their mobile phones. With reference to the local six parishes and the number of supermarkets in each parish, the Council has divided over 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 Identification Services Bureau (hereinafter referred as DSI) introduces an online ticketing service which provides a convenient way for citizens to obtain the "tag number of the day" to lodge their application. Without the need to get the tag number in person at DSI, citizens can make their bookings through DSI's website (www.dsi.gov.mo) after 7 o'clock in the morning of working day. Citizens who have obtained the tag number of the day online will receive a SMS from DSI for confirmation. Afterwards, they only need to arrive at DSI 15 minutes earlier than their selected time, and proceed to the designated counter as instructed on the screen at DSI to lodge their application. As usual, if citizens want to make an advance appointment, they can make their bookings through DSI's website, appointment hotline, Ticketing and Service Counter or the self-service kiosks at DSI. Citizens who have made an appointment will receive a SMS reminder from DSI one day before the scheduled date. Besides, citizens can cancel or change their appointment on DSI's website or appointment hotline if they cannot show up at the time they reserved, so as to release the reserved time for the use of other citizens. DSI will continue to conduct studies on the provision of more convenient electronic services to Macao citizens.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao released today the credit card statistics for the fourth quarter of 2014. The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 830,791 at the end of December 2014, equivalent to an increase of 1.3% over a quarter earlier. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 599,052, 77,779 and 153,960 respectively. MOP cards and RMB cards witnessed respective growth of 2.6% and 2.3% quarter-to-quarter, whereas HKD cards registered a drop of 9.1% due to adjustments of credit card business by individual banks. Compared with a year ago, MOP cards and RMB cards (the majority of which are MOP/RMB dual-currency cards) rose 12.0% and 9.9% respectively whereas HKD cards dropped 2.4%.
As at end-December 2014, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP17.3 billion, up 5.0% from end-September 2014. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP2.2 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP590.4 million, accounting for 27.1% of credit card receivables. The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, edged down to 0.84%.
For the fourth quarter of 2014, the credit card turnover increased 12.9% quarter-to-quarter to MOP4.6 billion. The cash advance turnover was MOP214.8 million, accounting for 4.7% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, went up 4.9% from the previous quarter to MOP4.4 billion.
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The Government will set up a committee to carry out criminal and legal system studies, according to a Chief Executive's despatch published today in the Official Gazette. The committee, which runs on a project team basis, will be supervised by the Prosecutor General of the Public Prosecutions Office. It will be led by a co-ordinator who is appointed by the Chief Executive, from the suggestion by the Prosecutor General. The committee's general term is for three years, but can be renewed. The committee's major responsibilities include: monitor the development of legal and judicial reforms on criminal matters and propose related suggestions and revisions; conduct research projects on social and legal aspects and continuously improve the criminal law system; conduct research projects on criminal procedural policies that can assist the stipulation of related policies by other entities; and submit an annual report to the Prosecutor General on work implementation. The remuneration of the co-ordinator is set by the Chief Executive: the Public Prosecutions Office will bear the cost of the committee.
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The Government Information Bureau today launched a new set of photos themed "glittering Lunar New Year lighting decorations", which can be viewed at the government news mobile application "MSAR News". The Bureau's photographer Mr Lou Kam Lit captured the glittering and celebratory hand-made lanterns, palace lanterns and flower-shaped decorative lightings, after they were launched by the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Ms Chan Hoi Fan, on 6 January. As part of this year's Lunar New Year celebrations, the lighting decorations are on display at 79 venues across the city. "MSAR News", was launched by the Bureau last year, offering various real-time news, government information, pictures and local weather reports. One of its five sections – "Gallery" – has already collected 122 different photo albums, showing Macao's picturesque scenery and unforgettable moments ranging from new and historic buildings, social characteristics and features, seasonal and festive activities. Other sections include "News", "News Features", "Hot News", and "Hot News Photos". Under the "News" section, 13 categories are available for users to subscribe to. It is available in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese and English. The built-in bookmarking and sharing functions allow users to spread the information from the app to email or social media such as Weibo, WeChat, Facebook and Twitter. In addition, the app's push notification feature gives instant access to news and information released by the Government. This app is available for both iOS (Version 5.1 or above) and Android (Version 4.0 or above) systems. It can be searched and downloaded with the keyword "MSAR News" in App Store and Google Play.
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