News

Macao Post will participate the “TAIPEI 2015 - 30th Asian International Stamp Exhibition”, located at Taipei, during 24th to 28th April, 2015. To commemorate this Exhibition, Macao Post issues the commemorative envelopes and provides the commemorative postmark cancellation service on site of the exhibition. Be convenience to the philatelist, the commemorative envelope with stamp priced at MOP4.50 will also be available for sale at the Philatelic Shop of Macao Post Headquarters starting from 24th April. You may send your mail of this cancelled commemorative envelope at the following locations *: Philatelic Shop at Macao Post Headquarters: 24th April 9:00 – 17:30 Post Offices: 24th to 28th April Office Hours to Public * No commemorative postmark cancellation service will be provided in Macao.
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Further to the communication about the fraudulent (phishing) email received by a citizen on March 27, 2015, Macao Post once again urges public to be vigilant and pay attention to an email written in English with an indication of EMS Logo that solicit the recipient to disclose address (please refer to the image for details). We have to clarify that Macao Post did not send the email concerned to their customers. Given the attached file “ems.zip” in zip format contains computer virus, public is advised not to download the file concerned.
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The Government Information Bureau today posted a new photo collection titled “The Handover Gifts Museum of Macao”, which can be viewed at the government news mobile application “MSAR News”. The 10 photographs, taken by the Bureau’s photographer Vitor Alves, shows a different perspective of the Museum and the gifts from the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, country-wide provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Museum, adjacent to the Macao Museum of Art in NAPE, is also the area that was used for the ceremony on 20th December 1999, marking Macao’s return to the motherland. Construction started in March 2003 and was officially opened in December 2004. The three-storey Museum places display the precious handover gifts on the second floor. It is open every day except Mondays, between from 10 am to 7 pm. This app is available for both iOS (Version 5.1 or above) and Android (Version 4.0 or higher) systems. It can be searched and downloaded with the keyword “MSAR News” in App Store and Google Play.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that attributable to the Lunar New Year holidays, visitors on package tours increased by 13.2% year-on-year to 983,000 in February 2015; visitors arriving on package tours (673,000) accounted for 68.5% of the total, while those joining local tours shared 31.5%. Package tour visitors from Mainland China increased by 21.5% year-on-year to 804,000, with 418,000 coming from Guangdong Province. Visitors from the Republic of Korea (41,000) and Hong Kong (39,000) increased by 7.7% and 8.1% respectively year-on-year, whereas those from Taiwan (53,000) decreased by 12.0%. In the first two months of 2015, visitors on package tours reached 1,940,000, up by 16.8% year-on-year. Outbound residents using services of travel agencies were 135,000 in February 2015, up by 10.2% year-on-year; those travelling on package tours surged by 29.1% to 56,000, and the main destinations were Mainland China (80.7% of total), the Republic of Korea (5.2%), Taiwan (3.9%) and Hong Kong (3.4%). In the first two months of 2015, outbound residents using services of travel agencies totalled 247,000, up by 3.6% year-on-year. There were 97 hotels and guesthouses operating at the end of February 2015, providing 28,000 guest rooms, up by 1.0% year-on-year; 5-star hotels accounted for 65.2% of the total supply, with 18,000 rooms. A total of 756,000 guests checked into hotels and guesthouses in February 2015, down by 9.9% year-on-year. Guests from Mainland China (512,000) and Hong Kong (87,000) decreased by 6.4% and 16.2%. The average length of stay of guests held stable as February 2014, at 1.4 nights. On account of an increase in guest rooms and a decrease in guests, the average occupancy rate of hotels and guesthouses tumbled by 11.3 percentage points year-on-year to 80.2%, with 5-star hotels leading at 83.3%. In the first two months of 2015, hotel guests totalled 1,559,000, down by 8.9% year-on-year; the average occupancy rate stood at 79.8%, a decrease of 6.1 percentage points. Visitor-guests accounted for 66.5% of the total overnight visitors, down by 1.9 percentage points year-on-year.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total merchandise export for February 2015 amounted to MOP686 million, down by 4.0% year-on-year; value of re-exports (MOP557 million) decreased by 5.9%, but that of domestic exports (MOP129 million) increased by 5.4%. Total merchandise import expanded by 12.4% year-on-year to MOP6.62 billion, of which imports of Mobile phones rose by 72.6%. Merchandise trade deficit amounted to MOP5.93 billion. In the first two months of 2015, total value of merchandise export fell slightly by 0.1% year-on-year to MOP1.65 billion, of which value of re-exports (MOP1.33 billion) dropped by 1.7%, but that of domestic exports (MOP315 million) increased by 7.4%. Total value of merchandise import grew by 4.3% to MOP15.14 billion. Merchandise trade deficit widened to MOP13.50 billion for the first two months of 2015. Analysed by destination, merchandise export to Hong Kong (MOP1.03 billion) and Mainland China (MOP227 million) in the first two months of 2015 increased by 1.7% and 6.1% year-on-year, while export to the EU (MOP41 million) and the USA (MOP33 million) decreased by 25.0% and 43.9% respectively. Exports of Non-textiles increased by 1.4% year-on-year to MOP1.52 billion, of which value of Clocks & watches (MOP215 million) and Tobacco (MOP79 million) rose by 20.4% and 157.4% respectively, but that of Machines, apparatus & parts (MOP222 million) dropped by 20.8%. Exports of Textiles & garments totalled MOP122 million, down by 15.2%. By country of origin, merchandise import from Mainland China (MOP5.16 billion) in the first two months of 2015 increased by 10.6% year-on-year, while import from the EU (MOP3.62 billion) fell by 1.0%. Imports of Consumer goods dropped by 5.5% to MOP8.93 billion, with imports of Gold jewellery (MOP1.44 billion) decreasing by 30.9%, but that of Food & beverages (MOP2.14 billion) increasing by 17.9%. Moreover, imports of Mobile phones (MOP2.03 billion) and Construction materials (MOP532 million) grew by 54.3% and 18.0% respectively. External merchandise trade reached MOP16.79 billion in the first two months of 2015, up by 3.8% compared with MOP16.17 billion a year earlier.
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Published by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and produced by 100 Plus Cultural Creative Development Ltd., the April issue of the magazine C2 launches its latest issue on 6 April. The feature story of the latest issue is the book publishing industry in Macao. It will share local book publishing experiences and analyse marketing strategies, which will definitely inspire the readers. The book publishing industry faces both challenges and opportunities in Macao. The feature story in the April issue invites two local writers, Chau Ka Lai and Un Sio San, together with independent bookstore Pin-to Livros to talk about the largest challenges the book publishing industry of Macao faces and how to overcome them. “Around the Globe” introduces the significant event of Art Basel in Hong Kong. “Extravaganza” presents the event, Heritage Stroll with Poems, which combines creativity, entertainment, arts and humanities. This event has been successfully held for three years and helps to provide fertilizer for the growing cultural industry of Macao. The rising young director Johnny Tam shares the success of the drama Lungs and explores the possibility for Macao theatre to go professional. The section “Blogs” welcomes new columnists, Joe Lei, Joe Tang, Xing Rongfa, Hsu Hsiu-chu, Yap Seow Choong, Hung Kuo-hsiung and Ron Lam, who will provide readers with more enriched and multi-dimensional aspects of local and international information about the cultural and creative industries. C2 is a trilingual online magazine (Chinese, Portuguese and English) with a new edition available every first Monday of the month. Readers are welcome to browse or download the magazine at www.c2magazine.mo. To receive the latest news, please find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/c2magazine.macau, or on WeChat by going to “add friend” and inputting “c2magazine” in the ID column. For enquiries, please email us at c2magazine.macau@gmail.com.
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The 26th Macao Arts Festival (MAF), organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, presents in Macao several world-level ballets, from the Asian premieres of Lied Ballet and Trust to the commissioned performance Aerodynamics and the award winning Out of Context – for Pina, uniting masterpieces and top dancers and allowing the audience to enjoy the charms of dance from different epochs and styles. Lied Ballet, a premiere in Asia, is a work by world renowned and contemporary choreographer Thomas Lebrun, bringing together classical and modern ballet elements, taking the audience on a journey through different eras, raising the MAF’s curtain in the best way possible. The Festival comes to a close with another Asian premiere – Trust, a production interpreted by the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz’s talented dancers, is inspired by the financial crisis of 2008, criticising the modern world through body language. The commissioned performance Aerodynamics is the result of cooperation between Taiwan and Macau dancers, led by prominent theatre director Wen-Chung Lin, that explores the relationship between human body and aeronautics. Contemporary Belgian company les ballets C de la B presents the award winning Out of Context – for Pina, reflecting the luxury and wildness of modern civilization through unadorned movements and postures that represent the essence of human feelings. This edition on the Festival also organizes a series of outreach activities, such as the Contemporary Theatre Criticism Workshop, led by Shih Ming-Huei and Wu Shi-Fong, from Taiwan, Lo Ching-man and Chan Kwok Wai, from Hong Kong, and Mok Sio Chong, from Macao, hoping to lead its students to write their own performance critiques; the Theatrical Interpretation Workshop offers a sign language experience, taking it to an artistic level. Available places for both workshops are now limited and interested members of the public should apply as soon as possible. For more information on the performances, please refer to the Macao Arts Festival booklet at www.icm.gov.mo/fam. Ticketing hotline 2855 5555; online reservations at www.macauticket.com. Information on the Outreach Programme activities and respective applications are available at www.icm.gov.mo/eform/event, and can also be done through the number 8399 6699, during office hours.
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Consumer Council conducted its first ‘Supermarket price survey’ in April on 1 April for the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June. Surveyed locations included supermarkets near Areia Preta and Avenida de Venceslau de Morais 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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According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, money supply retreated in February. As total loans increased whereas total deposits decreased, the overall loan-to-deposit ratio of the banking sector rose from a month earlier. Money supply Currency in circulation grew 8.1% whereas demand deposits dropped 4.5%. M1 thus decreased 2.2% from one month earlier. Concurrently, quasi-monetary liabilities fell 2.4%. The sum of these two items, i.e. M2, decreased 2.4% to MOP481.7 billion. On an annual basis, M1 and M2 rose 5.5% and 5.4% respectively. The share of Pataca (MOP) in M2 stood at 27.6%, up 0.9 percentage points from a month ago or 3.0 percentage points from a year earlier. The share of Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) in M2 was 50.3%, down 0.4 percentage points month-to-month or 0.1 percentage point year-on-year. The share of Chinese Yuan (CNY) was 11.9%, down 0.8 percentage points month-to-month or 4.3 percentage points year-on-year. The share of United States Dollar (USD) was 8.1%, up 0.3 percentage points month-to-month or 1.4 percentage points year-on-year. Deposits Resident deposits decreased 2.6% from the preceding month to MOP469.6 billion. Of which, MOP and USD deposits increased at respective rates of 0.1% and 1.5% while HKD, CNY and other foreign currency deposits decreased 3.1%, 8.7% and 0.6% respectively. Non-resident deposits grew 1.6% to MOP244.7 billion. Public sector deposits with the banking sector increased 3.0% to MOP105.8 billion. As a result, total deposits with the banking sector dropped 0.7% from a month earlier to MOP820.1 billion. The shares of MOP, HKD, CNY and USD in total deposits were 19.1%, 42.1%, 13.7% and 20.4% respectively. Loans Domestic loans to the private sector increased 0.4% from a month ago to MOP346.2 billion. Among which, MOP94.2 billion was MOP-denominated, MOP224.9 billion was denominated in HKD, MOP1.6 billion was denominated in CNY and MOP24.4 billion was denominated in USD, representing 27.2%, 65.0%, 0.5% and 7.1% of the total respectively. On the other hand, external loans grew 1.8% to MOP355.0 billion; of which, loans denominated in MOP, HKD, CNY and USD accounted for 1.3% (MOP4.8 billion), 21.9% (MOP77.6 billion), 17.5% (MOP62.0 billion) and 54.5% (MOP193.6 billion) respectively. Loan-to-deposit ratios The loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at end-February rose 1.2 percentage points from the previous month to 60.2%. The ratio for both the resident and non-resident sectors also grew 1.5 percentage points to 85.5%.
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Following the use of the new labels with franking impressions, indication of the latest posing time, 2D barcode and publicity slogan impressions of EMS at Carmo, Seac Pai Van and Mong Ha Post Offices on 9 October 2014, Macao Post announces that the Communications Museum Shop will also use the new labels with effect from 14th April 2015 as below. This label is applicable only to mail correspondences, small packets and printed matters at postal counters, and it is not for individual sale.
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