News

The Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS), jointly conducted by the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) and the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), 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 30 June 2014 are summarised as follows: On 30 June 2014, 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 a record-high of MOP416.9 billion at current market value, up by 6.6% from 31 December 2013 or 34.6% year-on-year. Among various instruments of portfolio investment, equity securities, long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities were valued at MOP164.6 billion, MOP230.6 billion and MOP21.6 billion respectively. In comparison with end-2013, investment in equity securities, of which mutual funds and investment trust units amounted to MOP36.9 billion, dropped by 4.1%. Investment in long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities grew by 13.0% and 40.4% respectively. By geographical distribution, the Asian region made up the largest share of Macao residents' external portfolio investment at 75.7%. The rest was mainly placed in Europe (8.8%), North Atlantic and Caribbean (8.6%), North America (4.1%) and Oceania (2.4%). Investment in securities issued by Mainland Chinese entities, including those securities listed on non-Mainland exchanges, continued to assume the leading position, occupying 47.5% of local residents' portfolio investment outside Macao. Its market value reached MOP198.1 billion, 10.8% up from end-2013 or 52.8% up from a year ago. The investment consisted of MOP24.1 billion in equity securities, MOP161.1 billion in long-term debt securities and MOP12.8 billion in short-term debt securities, constituting 14.7%, 69.8% and 59.3% of the respective total. On the other hand, the share of investment in securities issued by Hong Kong entities fell from 29.8% at end-2013 to 25.0%, with the corresponding market value falling by 10.6% to MOP104.0 billion, of which equity securities and long-term debt securities amounted to MOP81.7 billion and MOP13.7 billion respectively. The share of investment in European securities edged up by 0.1 percentage point from end-2013 to 8.8%, and the corresponding market value rose by 8.0% to MOP36.7 billion. Among European countries, Luxembourg took the largest share with a market value of MOP14.7 billion, an increase of 12.1% from end-2013. On the other hand, the market value of Macao residents' portfolio investment in the UK slid by 0.3% from six months ago to MOP7.2 billion. Investment in France, Germany and the Netherlands also dropped by 17.4%, 42.1% and 16.1% respectively in market value. Macao residents' portfolio investment in North Atlantic and Caribbean continued to increase. The market value of investment in this region rose by 16.9% from end-2013 to MOP35.9 billion, with its share in the total investment abroad rising to 8.6%. In particular, the market value of portfolio investment in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands swelled by 23.0% and 22.6% from six months ago to MOP21.5 billion and MOP7.7 billion respectively, whereas that in Bermuda trimmed by 1.9% to MOP6.6 billion. The bulk of investment in North America was placed in the USA. The market value of Macao residents' investment in US securities soared by 66.4% from end-2013 to MOP14.7 billion, pushing the corresponding share in the total portfolio investment abroad up from 2.3% to 3.5%. The market value of investment in long-term US debt securities grew by 17.0% in six months to MOP7.4 billion, representing the fourth largest share in the respective category. Macao residents' investment in long-term debt securities issued by Australian entities surged by 208.8% within half a year to a market value of MOP9.4 billion. It assumed the third place in the respective category and lifted the share of portfolio investment in Oceania from 1.0% six months ago to 2.4% at end-June 2014.
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The Suncity Group 61st Macau Grand Prix was held successfully on November 13 to 16, reliant upon the support of the general public in Macau. The Event has reached to an end, with a count of 80,000 spectators during the 4 days and ended in spectacular fashion by generating a total revenue over MOP50 million, breaking the revenue record of 4 days event, which included MOP12 million from ticketing, surpassing the bestselling record in the history of the Macau Grand Prix (MGP), seeing all kinds of spectators' stands sold out at the early stage. In 7 races of this year Grand Prix, registered 121 teams of 213 drivers and riders, origin from 24 countries/regions, amongst them 54 were local. Media participation counted 1,077 journalists from 27 countries/regions, with a total of 259 organizations for coverage, including 44 TV stations with the event live or delayed broadcast. Over the 4-day period, the Macau Grand Prix official website received more than 10 million Website Hits. The top 10 Web visitors include Hong Kong, Macau, United Kingdom, Mainland China, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, United States of America and Spain. This popularity has proved that the Macau Grand Prix is a worldwide motorsport event. The visitors to the Macau Grand Prix included students and teachers from 14 primary and secondary schools, as well as 8 local tertiary education entities. In addition, Macau Grand Prix theme exhibitions took place in 6 local tertiary education entities and in 8 public areas. Moreover, with the support from the Macau Government Tourist Office, 7 local associations had organized promotional activities for the festivity of the Grand Prix, namely: The Macao Federation of Trade Unions, the General Union of Neighbours Association of Macau, the Industry and Commerce Federation of Macau Central and Southern District, the Women's General Association of Macau, the Industry and Commerce Association of Macau Northern District, the Industry and Commerce Federation of Islands of Macao and Macau Federal Commercial Association of Convention & Exhibition Industry. According to the statistic from Macau Government Tourist Office and Public Security Police Force, during the 4-day period, 650 thousand visitors arrived in the city, with impressive hotel occupancy of 3 to 5 star hotels recorded in 95.72%, both figures breaking the record over the same period in 2012 and 2013. The Grand Prix's role in promoting the diversity of the city's tourism industry has been once again proven successful with the increase on figures on ticket sale, visitors to the Event, visitors to the city and hotel occupancy over the same period of the previous years. A special event made up of the officials behind the scenes was held during the Grand Prix, to showcase the team spirit and solidarity of Macau people, key elements of the Macau Grand Prix success, to the residents and worldwide. The MGPC would like to thank Macau residents for their invaluable support of the Grand Prix and congratulate the Macau Special Administrative Region on the 15th anniversary.
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Starting from October 2014, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) releases the new CPI series rebased to the period of October 2013 to September 2014. The 2013/2014-based Composite CPI for October 2014 increased by 6.18% year-on-year to 102.67, attributable to higher rentals for dwellings and dearer charges for eating out. In comparison with October 2013, notable increase was observed in the price index of Housing & Fuels (+12.47%) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+5.95%) on account of rising rentals for dwellings and higher prices of fruits, as well as dearer charges for eating out. On the contrary, price index of Communication decreased by 0.15%. The CPI-A (102.76) and CPI-B (101.91) increased by 6.69% and 6.06% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for October 2014 increased by 0.49% month-to-month. New arrival of Winter clothing and higher rentals for dwellings pushed up the price index of Clothing & Footwear and Housing & Fuels by 2.78% and 1.14% respectively. Price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco and Transport decreased by 0.88% and 0.37% respectively owing to lower prices of tobacco and gasoline. Meanwhile, receding prices of vegetables and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, as well as lower charges for package tours, tapered off the increase of the Composite CPI. The CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 0.51% and 0.48% respectively month-to-month. For the 12 months ended October 2014, the average Composite CPI increased by 6.03% from the previous period. Price index of Housing & Fuels (+11.81%) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+6.17%) registered remarkable increase, while price index of Communication decreased by 0.60%. The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 6.55% and 5.93% respectively. The average Composite CPI for the first ten months of 2014 increased by 6.09% year-on-year; the average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 6.60% and 5.98% respectively. The 2013/2014-based CPI is revised according to the results of the 2012/2013 Household Budget Survey. In comparison with the previous base period, higher rentals for dwellings and increased expenditure in private cars of households drove up the relative importance of Housing & Fuels and Transport; meanwhile, the relative importance of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages registered a decline. The 2013/2014-based 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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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) welcomed the Lucky Tourist followed by a celebration ceremony at Macau International Airport today (26 November) to celebrate Macau's unprecedented record of 500,000 Korean visitor arrivals by far this year. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes welcomed the 500,000th Korean visitor of this year at the Arrival Hall of Macau International Airport this morning and presented a wealth of souvenirs including two round-trip air tickets from Korea to Macau, two nights of hotel stay along with over MOP3,000 cash coupons among others. Moon Yang-Seob, his wife and their 8-month-old son from Korea visit Macau for a 4-day, 3-night as individual travelers. This is his first time to Macau as well as the first vacation of his son since he was born. He was very surprised and happy to be the Lucky Tourist and expressed that he chose to visit Macau as he likes the unique mix of the east and west culture. After the ceremony, they were transported to the hotel by MGTO-arranged vehicle, ready to embark upon his lucky journey in Macau. The flight NX819 arrived in Macau around 10 a.m. after departing from Incheon this morning. The passengers include five media delegates on a familiarization visit to Macau organized by MGTO. Coming from five prestigious newspapers in Korea, the visiting journalists will experience a leisurely trip in Macau for four days including a stroll around town, museum visits, Chinese and Portuguese delicacies, enjoyment of various performances and so forth. They will also enjoy a new experience in the Plaza Premium Lounge just inaugurated at the Macau airport before departure. Korea has been thriving as one of Macau's top ten tourism markets since 1999 till today. Rising to the 4th place just after the Greater China Region (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) in 2011, Korea has become Macau's largest international tourism market. Macau welcomed over 470,000 Korean visitors in total last year whereas the sum of Korean visitor arrivals has already surpassed 460,000 within the first ten months of 2014, a remarkable year-on-year growth of 19%. Today, Korea is even the first international tourism market that marks the record-breaking 500,000 visitor arrivals in Macau, matching MGTO's earlier forecast that Korean visitor arrivals would hit a new record in the latter half of this November. Korean visitor numbers have been spiking up in Macau in recent years. MGTO's market representative in Korea keeps adopting new marketing strategies to promote Macau as a travel destination and multi-destination tours to Macau and Hong Kong. For instance, the representative office held a large-scale promotional event after the theme "Experience Macau" at Lotte World Theme Park in Seoul this April. Besides their keen effort to join prominent travel fairs and organize varied promotional activities with artists and industry partners, the representative regularly invites Korean media and travel trade delegations to visit Macau while leveraging the effect of social media. Moreover, the representative office has invited Korean television stations to film their widely-favored game shows such as "Running Man", entertainment programs like "Friends in Macau" and "Location" as well as other TV dramas like "I Love You Like Destiny" in Macau. In parallel with Macau's positioning as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, MGTO is dedicated to exploring and developing potential tourism markets especially the international ones to diversify the destination's source of visitors. The quantity of flights keeps adding between Macau and Korea as well. Air Macau, Jin Air and Air Busan currently provide a total of 24 flights per week.
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Consumer Council conducted its seventh 'Supermarket price survey' in November on 25 November for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included 11 supermarkets in Sé 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 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 Cooperation Arrangement between the Civil Aviation Department, Hong Kong China and the Civil Aviation Authority, Macao China on Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigations" was signed today. With the aim to offer greater contribution in enhancing regional aviation safety, the two aeronautical authorities will share resources and provide assistance to each other on investigation work, investigation training, information and expertise knowledge. The two aeronautical authorites started their discussions on the cooperation project since last December and have recently finalized the arrangement text, which they signed today at the convention facilities of the Headquarters of the Civil Aviation Department, Hong Kong China (HKCAD). From now on, the two sides will share experiences on developing legislation administered in their respective area and exchange views on the latest development of international standards; facilitate exchanges of personnel for training courses and hands-on experience and observer status at investigation accident site; offer the use of investigation facilities including expertise in air traffic services, engineering, flight recorders and so on. The signatories of the cooperation arrangement were Mr. Norman Lo, Chief Inspector of Accidents of HKCAD and Mr. Chan Weng Hong, President of AACM. The aeronautical authorities of Hong Kong and Macao have always been keeping close contact with each other since a long time ago. Since the establishment of the two special administrative regions, the two sides have also been keeping close contact and holding regular meetings with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The three parties have already concluded a number of regional cooperation projects including approval of aircraft maintenance organizations, airworthiness certification, approval of aircraft repair modifications, approval of maintenance training organizations and optimization of Pearl River Delta air space resources. In addition to concluding the cooperation of accident and incident investigation with Hong Kong, AACM has also signed similar cooperation arrangements with the Investigation Bureau for Civil Aviation of France and CAAC's Aviation Safety Office respectively in 2008 and 2009.
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For the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June, Consumer Council conducted its specific price surveys on household cleansing products, and shampoo & shower gels on 24 November. Results of the mentioned 2 surveys have been uploaded to the Council's website (www.consumer.gov.mo) and are available in the Council's 'Supermarket Price Information Platform' iPhone and Android apps. For inquiry, please call the Council's hotline: 8988 9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 240 MICE events were held in the third quarter of 2014, up by 14 year-on-year. Total number of participants and attendees increased by 16% to 725,000. Total floor area used for the events was 161,000 m2, and the average duration of events was 2.2 days. There were 214 meetings and conferences held in the third quarter of 2014, drawing 29,000 participants; in particular, 4 of the conferences each attracted more than 1,000 participants. Concurrently, 26 exhibitions were organized, up by 5 year-on-year; number of attendees increased by 17% year-on-year to 695,000. The average duration of exhibitions was 3.4 days, and the floor area used totalled 76,000 m2. In accordance with information gathered from 24 exhibition organizers, 9 exhibitions were held for the first time in Macao, while the other 15 were repeated exhibitions having held in 2013. The interviewed organizers had 333 full-time staff engaged in the organization of these exhibitions. Receipts of the exhibitions amounted to MOP 37.33 million, up substantially by 81% year-on-year. Receipts from rental of exhibition booths doubled compared with the same quarter of 2013, at MOP 18.96 million; meanwhile, financial support from government or other organizations rose by 64% to MOP 18.37 million. Expenditure increased by 41% year-on-year to MOP 55.22 million, of which expenses on production, construction & decoration services (MOP 15.45 million), publicity & public relation (MOP 14.79 million) and accommodation, food & beverages (MOP 7.32 million) rose by 29%, 38% and 35% respectively. There were 1,429 exhibitors participating in the exhibitions, with those from Macao, Mainland China and Hong Kong accounting for 40%, 24% and 23% respectively. Professional visitors totalled 39,632, coming mainly from Macao (64%) and Hong Kong (20%). Information from 243 interviewed exhibitors indicated that sales of products took up 82% of the Receipts, while rental paid for exhibition booth shared 84% of the Expenditure. Regarding interviewed exhibitors' comments about the MICE venue and services, 69% were satisfied with the organization of the exhibition and 67% were satisfied with the hospitality arrangement, up by 23 and 15 percentage points respectively quarter-to-quarter. However, 13% and 12% of the exhibitors considered that event promotion and venue facilities needed improvement. In the first three quarters of 2014, a total of 743 MICE events were held, bringing 1,551,000 participants and attendees, up by 9% and 48% respectively year-on-year. There were 57 exhibitions and number of attendees totalled 1,460,000.
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The University of Macau (UM) on 6 December will hold the Ceremony for the Conferment of Honorary Degrees and Higher Degrees 2014. Honorary doctorates will be conferred on distinguished individuals with outstanding achievements and significant contributions to social development and education. PhD degrees and master's degrees will also be awarded at the ceremony.
This year, five distinguished individuals will receive honorary doctorates from UM. The recipients include three Nobel Prize winners, namely Prof Robert C Merton, Prof Chen-Ning Franklin Yang, Prof Mo Yan, as well as two distinguished individuals in the field of civil engineering, namely Prof Lee Chack Fan and Ir Siu Yin Wai. 551 graduating students of PhD programmes, master's degree programmes, and postgraduate certificate/diploma programmes, from UM's Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Faculty of Business Administration, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Science and Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, will receive their graduation certificates.
In addition, UM will hold the Doctor honoris causa Lectures Series at the University Hall on 6 December and 7 December. Prof Robert C Merton will speak on "Finance and Social Responsibility" on 6 December at 2:30pm, with Mr Tian Guoli, chairman of the Bank of China, as the guest speaker; Prof Mo Yan will speak on "Achievements of Chinese Literature and Its Future" on 7 December at 3:00pm, with Dr Wu Zhiliang, president of the Administrative Committee of the Macao Foundation, and Prof Yang Yi, chair professor of UM, as the guest speakers.
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Applications for the 2014 Subsidy Programme for the Production of Original Song Albums, launched by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) in September, will close on Thursday, 27 November 2014. All interested parties are welcome to take this chance to apply for the Programme.
To promote the development of Macao's music industry, IC launched the 2014 Subsidy Programme for the Production of Original Song Albums in September. Successful candidates will be granted subsidies for the production, marketing and promotion of a song album in CD and digital format. The aim is to increase opportunities for local music creators and producers to release their works and launch more local original music. The Programme will subsidise a maximum of eight candidates and each selected song album will be granted a subsidy up to MOP200,000.
The Programme's application rules and forms can be downloaded from IC's website (www.icm.gov.mo/dpicc/sps/defaultE.aspx) and from the Macao Cultural and Creative Industries website (www.macaucci.com/en/). For enquiries, please contact Mr. Ho or Ms. Lao, staff of IC, through tel. (853) 2892 4040 during office hours.
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