News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Gaming Sector saw favourable growth in 2010, with substantial increase in visitor arrivals. Total Receipts of the Gaming Sector reached MOP 190.67 billion, and Total Expenditure amounted to MOP 91.27 billion, up notably by 57% and 44% respectively year-on-year. Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy soared by 58% to MOP 113.34 billion. However, Gross Fixed Capital Formation shrank significantly by 63% from 2009 to MOP 1.10 billion, following the conclusion of the tourism and gaming facilities in 2009. In 2010, Total Receipts of the Gaming Sector amounted to MOP 190.67 billion, of which Receipts from Gaming & Related Services (e.g. food & beverage, currency exchange, etc.) reached MOP 190.62 billion; Interest Receipts decreased notably by 71% year-on-year to MOP 50.55 million. Total Expenditure amounted to MOP 91.27 billion, with Purchase of Goods, Commission Paid and Customer Rebate rising by 66% from 2009 to MOP 65.44 billion (72% of the total); besides, Operating Expenses (MOP 11.89 billion) and Compensation of Employees (MOP 10.71 billion) also increased by 15% and 4% respectively.
…

No dia 30 de Setembro de 2011, estimou-se que a população de Macau era composta por 560.100 pessoas, o que representa um acréscimo de 2.000 pessoas face ao fim do segundo trimestre deste ano, informam os Serviços de Estatística e Censos. Durante o terceiro trimestre do corrente ano, nasceram 1.473 nados-vivos e observou-se uma subida de 8,9% comparativamente ao segundo trimestre de 2011. Destes 762 eram do sexo masculino, o que corresponde a uma taxa de masculinidade à nascença de 107,2. Por seu turno, registaram-se 471 óbitos, mais 15,7% em termos trimestrais, cujas causas antecedentes de morte foram, principalmente, tumores e doenças do aparelho circulatório. Relativamente às doenças de declaração obrigatória, ocorridas no terceiro trimestre de 2011, foram comunicados 1.011 casos, sendo os predominantes a enterovírus infecção, a Influenza e a T.B pulmonar, com 369, 236 e 86 casos, respectivamente. O número de casamentos atingiu os 847, subiu 8,7% em relação ao segundo trimestre de 2011. No trimestre em análise, verificou-se que 1.719 cidadãos chineses eram titulares de "Salvo conduto singular da China Continental para Macau/Hong Kong", mais 185 indivíduos, em termos trimestrais. No que toca aos imigrantes ilegais, 382 foram repatriados no terceiro trimestre de 2011. Havia 851 indivíduos autorizados a residir em Macau, mais 230 pessoas relativamente ao segundo trimestre de 2011. Até ao fim do terceiro trimestre deste ano, existiam em Macau 89.896 trabalhadores não residentes que aumentaram 4.623 em comparação com o fim do segundo trimestre de 2011.
…

According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, on a monthly basis, broad money witnessed a slight decline in September. As loans to non-residents exhibited a significant decrease, the overall loan-to-deposit ratio continued to fall. Money supply
Currency in circulation and demand deposits grew 2.3% and 7.1% respectively. M1 thus increased 6.3% from one month earlier. Concurrently, quasi-monetary liabilities dropped 1.1%, driving M2 to edge down by 0.2% to MOP278.6 billion. On an annual basis, M1 and M2 rose 6.2% and 17.6% respectively. The share of Pataca (MOP) in M2 stood at 25.5%, down 0.2 percentage points over a month ago and 3.0 percentage points from a year earlier. The share of Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) in M2 was 53.0%, down 0.4 percentage points month-to-month and 1.6 percentage points year-on-year. Deposits
Resident deposits dropped 0.2% from the previous month to MOP272.4 billion. Of which, MOP deposits and HKD deposits decreased at respective rates of 1.1% and 0.9% while other foreign currency deposits grew 2.6%. In the meantime, non-resident deposits rose 1.5% to MOP94.7 billion and public sector deposits with the banking sector also increased 4.6% to MOP24.2 billion. As a result, total deposits with the banking sector grew 0.5% from a month earlier to MOP391.3 billion. The shares of MOP and HKD in total deposits were 21.2% and 43.9% respectively. Loans
Domestic loans to the private sector increased 2.4% on a monthly basis to MOP164.9 billion. Among which, MOP41.3 billion was MOP-denominated and MOP108.2 billion was denominated in HKD, representing 25.1% and 65.6% of the total respectively. Compared with a quarter ago, loans to "construction and public works", "wholesale and retail trade" and "transport, warehouse and communications" increased at respective rates of 19.2%, 17.3% and 6.7% whereas those to "restaurants, hotels and similar" and "manufacturing industries" dropped 9.4% and 8.0% respectively. External loans decreased 3.8% to MOP147.8 billion; of which, loans denominated in MOP and HKD accounted for 0.3% (MOP0.4 billion) and 34.0% (MOP50.2 billion) respectively.
Loan-to-deposit ratios
As domestic loans to the private sector increased while resident deposits dropped, the loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at end-September 2011 rose 1.2 percentage points month-to-month to 55.6%. The ratio for both the resident and non-resident sectors was 79.9%, down slightly by 0.9 percentage points from the previous month.
…

Macau Government Tourist Office has issued license to a new guesthouse, increasing the total number of guesthouses in Macau to 32. Relating to the objectives of the SAR Government, MGTO will continue to support investors in building budget hotels and guesthouses to diversify the accommodation options to meet the different demands of visitors. Located in the central district, the newly opened two-star guesthouse "Pensão Renascença" is a six-storey building with 40 rooms and a Chinese restaurant. Currently, there are 32 guesthouses (including this new one) in Macau, offering a total of 616 rooms. Director of MGTO João Manuel Costa Antunes expressed that MGTO values the demand of visitors. The SAR Government fully supports investors in establishing different types of hotels and guesthouses, and MGTO will facilitate the related applications. He looks forward to a wide choice of accommodation available for visitors to gradually realize market diversification.
…

The Macau Government Tourist Office is exhibiting once again at London's World Travel Market which opened yesterday (November 7), to showcase the exciting developments of Macau as a World Center of Tourism and Leisure and to encourage more visitors to the destination from the UK and around the world. Staged annually at London's ExCel exhibition venue, the four-day World Travel Market is one of the global events for the travel industry that attracts about 48,000 travel industry professionals every year to meet, network and conduct business under one roof while learning about the latest developments within the industry. The 25.5m² MGTO booth, designed with the theme 'Touching Moments, Experience Macau', is located within the Asia section. Representatives for the MGTO include: Head of Marketing, Cora Vong and MGTO's UK representative Sue Whitehead, amongst others. The MGTO also hosted a joint on-stand lunch reception with HKTB yesterday for travel trade and media guests. The event provided a great networking opportunity for travel trade professionals and members of the press to learn more about Macau and Hong Kong in an informal environment.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 850 new companies were incorporated in the third quarter of 2011, up by 8.7% year-on-year; total value of registered capital soared by 132.0% to MOP479 million, which was driven by an upsurge of registered capital of the new incorporations engaging in Business Services (MOP410 million). The majority of the new incorporations are operating in Wholesale and Retail (341), Business Services (144) and Construction (96). There were 592 (69.6% of total) new incorporations registered with capital under MOP50,000 and the value of capital (MOP15 million) made up 3.2% of the total; meanwhile, there were 18 new companies registered with capital of MOP1,000,000 or over, and the value of capital (MOP426 million) accounted for 89.0% of the total. In addition, more than 80% of the new incorporations were limited companies. Capital of the new companies came mainly from Macao (MOP451 million), Mainland China (MOP15 million) and Hong Kong (MOP9 million). Capital originating from the 9 Provinces of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region amounted to MOP10 million, with that from Guangdong province sharing MOP7 million. Analyzed by place of residence of the shareholders, 502 new companies were established solely by Macao shareholders, and 106 were joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions. In the third quarter of 2011, number of companies in dissolution totalled 125 and the value of registered capital amounted to MOP23 million, of which 37 were operating in Wholesale and Retail, and 25 in Business Services.
…

With the guidance of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the first "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week" that is jointly held by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao Special Administrative Region and the Identification Services Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region will kick off on 28th November 2011. The opening ceremony will be held at the Main Foyer of the Macao Forum on 28th November at 11am. The campaign is highly concerned and strongly supported by the Central People's Government. Mr. Huang Ping, the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China will lead the delegation and come to Macao. The "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week" will be held from 28th November 2011 to 3rd December 2011 for 6 consecutive days. Activities of the promotion week are in a wide range of variety including "Photo Exhibition", "Short Film Competition for all Macao Secondary School Students", "Quizzes", "Specific Seminar", "Exchange Seminar between the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and Representatives of Associations and Youngsters in Macao" and "Community Carnival". The organizer expects to enhance citizens' knowledge on consular protection and consular services through the involvement of citizens, associations and educational institutes in Macao in a series of activities related to "Consular Protection and Consular Services". This will make them understand the services provided to Chinese citizens by the embassy or consulate of China in other countries as well as the relation between consular protection and themselves, so that they can request assistance from embassy or consulate of China in other countries in emergency. The "Short Film Competition for all Macao Secondary School Students" already started on 19th September 2011. The deadline of submitting the short films will be on 4th November 2011. The above short film competition is opened to all full-time secondary school students in Macao. The film should not be longer than 1 minute, with consular protection and consular services as the main theme. Furthermore, "Quizzes" will be published in major Macao newspapers from 9th November 2011 to 11th November 2011. Citizens can refer to the special issue on "Consular Protection and Consular Services" published on 7th November 2011 and 14th November 2011 respectively, answer the questions and return the answer slip to the "Quizzes" collection boxes or answer the questions on the activity website. Citizen who answers all questions correctly will enter the lucky draw. Collection boxes can be found at the Identification Services Bureau and service stations of associations in Macao (including the Macao Federation of Trade Unions, União Geral das Associações dos Moradores de Macau (UGAMM) and the Women's General Association of Macao). For further information of the activity, please visit the following website: www.dsi.gov.mo/sppsc. The results of the "Short Film Competition for all Macao Secondary School Students" and the "Quizzes" will be announced on 25th November 2011. Prizes will be given out to the winners at the opening ceremony of the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week". Part of the winning short films of "Short Film Competition for all Macao Secondary School Students" will also be shown during the ceremony. The "Photo Exhibition" will start on the opening day the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week" on 28th November 2011. Contents are mainly about the basic knowledge of consular protection and consular services, important overseas evacuation carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and past incidents of consular protection and consular services. The exhibition will be held at the Main Foyer of the Macao Forum from 28th November 2011 to 3rd December 2011. During the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week", there will be a specific seminar on "Consular Protection and Consular Services" hosted by Mr. Huang Ping, the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. Target audiences are major officials and senior civil servants of the Macao SAR Government. Besides, the organizer has especially prepared an "Exchange Seminar between the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and Representatives of Associations and Youngsters in Macao". Representatives of major associations and youngsters in Macao can take such precious opportunity to have direct interaction and exchange with Mr. Huang Ping, the Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China on sharing his experience on consular protection businesses. Last but not the least, there will be a "Community Carnival" at the Main Foyer of the Macao Forum on 3rd December 2011 (Saturday) at 11am as the final activity of the "Consular Protection and Consular Services Promotion Week". Through different interesting and interactive game booths designed by local associations, it can help to introduce the basic knowledge of consular protection and consular services to Macao citizens. Citizens are welcomed to participate and may win prizes at game booths. Besides special concerns from the Central People's Government, the above-mentioned campaign is also strongly supported by various sectors in the society including the Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau, the Macao Government Tourist Office, the Macao Chamber of Commerce, the Macao Federation of Trade Unions, União Geral das Associações dos Moradores de Macau (UGAMM), the Women's General Association of Macao, the Association of Returned Overseas Chinese Macau, the Chinese Educators Association of Macao, the Union of Catholic Schools of Macao, the Travel Industry Council of Macau and schools in Macao. For further information about the activities, please visit the following website: www.dsi.gov.mo/sppsc.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that there were 1,178 establishments operating in the Construction Sector, down by 115 over 2009; number of persons engaged decreased by 18.4% to 15,284. Total value of construction work decreased by 28.0% year-on-year to MOP22.27 billion in 2010. Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy (MOP3.83 billion) decreased by 28.4%. In addition, Intermediate Consumption (MOP18.65 billion) and Labour Cost (MOP2.76 billion) went down by 27.7% and 18.8% respectively year-on-year. A total of 1,757 construction projects were carried out in 2010, up by 21.2% over 2009. Number of private construction projects increased by 48.2% year-on-year to 1,295, of which residential projects (957) soared by 78.9% on account of a 95.5% surge in projects under the government-funded Scheme for Common Parts Maintenance of Building (833). Meanwhile, there were 462 public construction projects in 2010, down by 19.8% year-on-year, with public housing projects (42) registered an increase of 7.7%. Total value of private construction projects (MOP17.84 billion) decreased by 32.3% year-on-year. Value of construction of tourism and gaming facilities and hotels amounted to MOP13.31 billion, down by 36.0% over 2009, that of residential projects (MOP3.04 billion) also dropped by 26.0%. Total value of public construction projects amounted to MOP4.44 billion, down slightly by 3.3% over 2009, of which construction of public housing (MOP1.47 billion) and infrastructure (MOP1.71 billion) increased by 15.1% and 12.4% respectively year-on-year. Coverage of the Construction Survey comprises construction establishments engaging in licensed construction work in 2010.
…

The Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) will host a three-day workshop on airport pavements design and evaluation commencing today (2 November 2011) to share experiences and enhance each other's knowledge and capability in this technical aspect, with the aeronautical authorities and airports from the United States and Asia, international organizations and expert service providers The airport runway technologies are constantly changing. To ensure that the aeronautical authorities and the airports can obtain the latest development of the runway design, construction and engineering technologies, AACM and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) collaborated with each other to host the "Regional Workshop on Airport Pavements – Design and Evaluation" in Macao with the objective of allowing participants to share experiences through discussions and case studies to effectively deal with airport pavement problems. The workshop is held in the convention facilities of Macao Science Centre, from 02 to 04 November 2011. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States is the main speaker. In the three-day event, the speakers and the participants will discuss airfield pavement design, construction, maintenance and management; runway surface friction characteristics, evenness and roughness; pavement load classification; major research initiatives on pavement design for heavy aircraft; state practices on overload operations and environmental constraints; new pavement software and technologies development and so on. FAA will also illustrate some case studies, including construction problems at Trinidad and Tobago Airport, and field instrumentation at John F. Kennedy International Airport. In addition, the workshop will highlight a number of state or administration presentations. Hong Kong SAR and Republic of Korea will present the pavement management at Hong Kong International Airport and Incheon International Airport respectively; Japan will report on the damage to Sendai Airport and its pavement from the tsunami; Myanmar will introduce their airport pavement design and evaluation; Macao SAR will talk about the evaluation of structural capacity of airfield pavements in Macau International Airport. The workshop has attracted more than 70 participants who come from 14 states or administrations namely Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United States, as well as ICAO and its subsidiary – "Cooperative Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Programme – South Asia", and two international expert service providers in airport pavement testing and evaluation. The Macao SAR participants also comprise Civil Engineering Laboratory of Macau, CAM-Macau International Airport Company Ltd. and Administration of Airports, Ltd. To cope with the integration of Macao into the Pearl River Delta Region, Macau International Airport will undergo gradual expansion so that its capacity can fulfill the future demand of air transport in the neighbouring area. The expansion will include the reclamation of the shallow water area between the two taxiways and the extension of the safety area of both runway ends. The President of AACM, Chan Weng Hong, said "The workshop is hosted in a timely manner in Macao as it provides a platform for the Macao participants to exchange the latest development trends on runway and pavement design and evaluation and understand how other states or administrations deal with the respective construction problems."
…

On 4 November the University of Macau (UM) will hold a Doctor honoris causa Lecture Series, which is part of UM's 30th anniversary Lecture Series. Renowned evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist Prof. Francisco J. Ayala will be the speaker, and his topic will be "Science and Religion: Conflict or Concert?" On the following day, UM will hold a ceremony to confer a Degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa upon Prof. Ayala. Today, many religious denominations accept that biological evolution has produced the diversity of living things over billions of years of the Earth's history. Many have issued statements observing that evolution and the tenets of their faiths are compatible. Scientists and theologians have written eloquently about their awe and wonder at the history of the universe and of life on this planet, explaining that they see no conflict between their faith in God and the evidence for evolution. In this central human controversy, Prof. Ayala holds that science and religion should be viewed as different ways of understanding the world and that the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. At the lecture Prof. Ayala will discuss the overwhelming evidence in support of biological evolution and will evaluate the alternative perspectives offered by advocates of various kinds of creationism. He will also explore the many fascinating inquiries being pursued. For educators, students, teachers, community leaders, legislators, policy makers, and parents who seek to understand the basis of evolutionary science, this lecture will provide a precious opportunity to hear the insights of Prof. Ayala and to discuss questions with him. The lecture will take place at 17:00 on 4 November (Friday) at UM's Cultural Centre. It will be conducted in English, with simultaneous interpretation into Mandarin. For on-line registration, please visit https://isw.umac.mo/ayala/faces/index.jspx. For enquiries, please call 83974339 or 83974332.
…