News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the total population was 614,500 as at end-March 2014, an increase of 7,000 quarter-to-quarter; female population totalled 314,600, accounting for 51.2% of the total. There were 1,637 live births delivered in the first quarter of 2014, a decrease of 119 or 6.8% quarter-to-quarter. Male babies totalled 836 and the gender ratio of the newborn stood at 104.4, corresponding to 104.4 male babies per 100 female babies. Meanwhile, mortality cases totalled 543, an increase of 15 quarter-to-quarter; the top three underlying causes of death were Neoplasms (178 cases), Diseases of the Circulatory System (141 cases) and Diseases of the Respiratory System (103 cases). In the first quarter of 2014, there were 800 Chinese immigrants and the individuals granted right of abode registered a net inflow of 158, down by 147 and 297 quarter-to-quarter. Non-resident workers totalled 145,692 at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 7,854. A total of 1,167 cases of marriage registration were recorded in the first quarter, up by 173 quarter-to-quarter.
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) launched a opinion poll and survey for new additional walking tour routes "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" to collect residents, businesses and visitors opinions, which will serve as reference for the launch and improvement of more itineraries. "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" is a MGTO long-term "Community Tourism Plan". Following the launch of the first four "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" walking routes in 2013, MGTO plans to introduce new additional walking itineraries under the same theme in 2014. Before unveiling four new additional routes, MGTO promotes an opinion poll which includes explanation sessions and encourages residents and businesses of community and visitors to answer surveys and to provide their suggestions. MGTO is organizing six explanation sessions to collect the opinions of local residents, businesses and tourism trade. The six sessions as follows: Session for Tourism Development Committee, Public Session for residents and media, Sessions for parishes of Nossa Senhora de Fátima, Santo António, São Francisco Xavier and Nossa Senhora do Carmo. The opinion poll is carried out simultaneously through online questionnaires (in Chinese and Portuguese) and street surveys. Macau residents, businesses and visitors can fill in the online questionnaire anonymously from 19th May to 19th June. Street surveys to provide suggestions from neighborhoods' residents and merchants are personal interviews about the four new additional itineraries. For MGTO's reference on the launch and improvement of more walking tour routes, a final report will be published after collecting all explanation sessions, online questionnaires and street surveys opinions. MGTO organized today (8) an explanation session open to public and invited local residents, media, and related associations to participate. MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, MGTO deputy directors Cecilia Tse and Cheng Wai Tong, representatives of Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Land, Public Work and Transport Bureau, and Transport Bureau attended the event. In a speech at the occasion, Senna Fernandes highlighted: "Diversify cultural tourism products and continue to boost the Community Tourism Plan are MGTO main work goals this year. We hope to collect valuable opinions from residents, merchants and visitors, and take them in consideration, so that in future the launch of four new additional walking tour routes is well accepted by visitors. Thus, we invite everyone to participate actively and to help us to optimize tourism environment". During the public session, MGTO deputy director Cheng Wai Tong presented the main ideas for the four new additional walking routes and the community opinion poll working plan. The proposed four new additional tourist itineraries are located at Parishes of Nossa Senhora de Fátima, Santo António and Nossa Senhora do Carmo, in Taipa, and Parish of São Francisco Xavier in Coloane area (see ideas for proposed routes attached). MGTO is already promoting the public consultation through website http://en.macautourism.gov.mo/index.php, newspapers, and radio, among other communication channels, and appealing residents and merchants to participate in this community opinion poll sharing their opinion. The first four itineraries "Step Out, Experience Macau's Communities" were launched by MGTO on 27th September last year to encourage visitors to explore different areas of the city on foot. The four routes launched are as follow: "A Tour of Historical Trails", "A Tour of Nature and Creativity", "A Tour of East Meets West" and "A Tour of Arts and Culture". Printed map leaflets of the four routes are available, and visitors can download the maps as well as enjoy the videos on these routes from MGTO website. Residents and visitors can also search through AppStore or Google Play and download for free the mobile application "Step Out, Macau". Currently, along the four walking tour routes there is entertainment such as lion dance, Chinese opera, street dance, martial arts, and folk dance performances, as well as street painting, music and puppet shows.
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Consumer Council conducted its first 'Supermarket price survey' in May on 7 May 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 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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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 1,126 new companies were incorporated in the first quarter of 2014, up by 138 year-on-year; total value of registered capital increased by 23.7% to MOP191 million. Analysed by industry, the majority of new incorporations were operating in Wholesale & Retail (423) and Business Services (237). Companies in dissolution totalled 155, up by 26 year-on-year; value of registered capital of companies in dissolution decreased by 84.9% to MOP28 million. Analysed by size of registered capital, there were 754 new companies registered with capital under MOP50,000 (67.0% of total), and the total value of capital was MOP20 million (10.3% of total); there were 44 new companies registered with capital of MOP1 million or over, and the total value of capital amounted to MOP122 million. In the first quarter of 2014, capital of the new companies came mainly from Macao (MOP118 million) and Mainland China (MOP53 million), including MOP26 million from the 9 Provinces of the Pan-Pearl River Delta Region, with that from Guangdong province sharing MOP24 million. Analysed by combination of the shareholders, there were 715 new companies established solely by Macao shareholders, and 165 joint ventures between shareholders from Macao and other countries or regions. At the end of the first quarter of 2014, number of registered companies totalled 44,724, an increase of 4,077 from a year earlier.
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The Government Information Bureau (GCS) gave an assurance today that the newly launched "MSAR News" app does not collect personal private information from users' mobile phones and devices. In a statement, GCS said it was very concerned after a newspaper reported today that certain government departments' mobile apps might involve personal privacy issues. The GCS stressed that "MSAR News" does not collect any personal private information from its users' mobile phones, especially information that relates to phonebook, call records and GPS locations. "MSAR News", launched by the GCS on 4 April 2014, is a free one-way mobile app that enables mobile users to read official news and information on their portable devices in real time.
The mobile app only reads from users' mobile phones the version number, username and device token. No other personal private information from users' mobile phones, especially the phonebook, call records and GPS location data, is collected. When "MSAR News" is installed on an Android device, the phone system will alert its user that the mobile app may access certain attributes of the phone, but emphasised that the app will only read the user's identification data. The only purpose of reading such identification data is for statistical analysis of the brands, models and versions of the users' devices for reference in future upgrades of the mobile app and information services.
The GCS will incorporate a privacy policy statement into the terms and conditions for use of this mobile app and specify the kind of personal information that might be read. To further improve the app, the installation alert for Android versions will also be adjusted by deleting the items not to be collected. As more and more people use mobile phones and other mobile devices to access information, the GCS launched the "MSAR News" app on 4 April to provide real-time government news and photos, and local weather reports, with the aim to enhance public awareness and understanding of government policy and services. This app has rich content, comprising five main sections: "News", "Gallery", "News Features", "Hot News", and "Hot News Photos".
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Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) is promoting Macau at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2014, the leading international annual tourism fair taking place in the Middle East, which opened today in Dubai and runs until Thursday. To tap into the great potential of the Middle East visitor source market and expand Macau's international visitors, MGTO is once again promoting the city's appeal as a tourism destination at ATM. MGTO is showcasing Macau's latest updates and tourism products with a 50 square meter booth at the key-event for the Middle East region, dedicated to the theme "Touching Moments Experience Macau". Visitor arrivals from the Middle East to Macau have been increasing fast for the last few years. In 2013 Macau welcomed close to 15,000 visitors coming from the Middle East, a 5.5 per cent growth year on year, while for the first quarter of this year arrivals from the region already increased by 8 per cent, compare to same period last year. This year on its 21st edition, the 4-day event, taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre, attracted 2700 exhibitors representing 83 countries and territories.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the total number of licensed motor vehicles reached 229,999 at the end of March 2014, up by 5% year-on-year, of which motorcycles and light private cars accounted for 52% and 41% respectively. New registration of motor vehicles increased by 2% year-on-year to 4,962 in the first quarter of 2014. In the first quarter of 2014, number of traffic accidents totalled 3,733 cases, up by 9% year-on-year, resulting in 1,192 casualties and 5 of them were killed. Cross-border vehicle traffic totalled 1,189,846 vehicle trips in the first quarter of 2014, up by 6% year-on-year; vehicle traffic through the Border Gate shared 81%. Meanwhile, passenger ferry between Macao and Hong Kong and between Macao and Mainland China totalled 35,068 ferry trips, an increase of 44 trips year-on-year; ferry traffic through the Outer Harbour accounted for the largest number of 23,669 ferry trips. Commercial flight movements at the Macao International Airport increased by 9% year-on-year to 11,567 in the first quarter of 2014, of which flight movements to and from Mainland China accounted for 40%. Helicopter flights between Macao and Hong Kong and between Macao and Mainland China totalled 3,736, down by 19% year-on-year, attributable to a 18% decrease in flights between Macao and Hong Kong. Seaborne container throughput totalled 30,736 TEU in the first quarter of 2014, equivalent to 21,795 containers handled, up by 2% and 1% respectively year-on-year. Gross weight of seaborne containerized cargo (57,275 tonnes) and containerized cargo by land (4,985 tonnes) increased by 30% and 13% respectively year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2014, outward air cargo decreased by 4% year-on-year to 3,262 tonnes; meanwhile, inward air cargo increased by 27% to 1,730 tonnes, mainly due to increase in air cargo from Japan and Mainland China. Taiwan remained the major origin and destination of inward and outward air cargo, accounting for 48% and 41% of the respective total. Transit air cargo decreased by 3% year-on-year to 1,182 tonnes. At the end of March 2014, number of fixed-line telephone users decreased by 3% year-on-year to 157,155. Meanwhile, number of mobile telephone users increased by 7% to 1,662,547. As regards internet services, number of subscribers totalled 275,221 and the cumulative duration of usage reached 226 million hours in the first quarter of 2014, up by 16% and 17% respectively year-on-year.
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The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) will undertake restoration works in St. Dominic's Church from 15th May, which are scheduled to be completed in early September. During this period, parts of the Church will be temporarily closed but the Treasure of Sacred Art next to the Church will be open as usual. The IC will minimise the impact on residents and visitors during the restoration.
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According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, money supply continued to drop in March. As total loans increased at a faster pace than total deposits, the overall loan-to-deposit ratio of the banking sector rose from a month earlier.
Money supply
Currency in circulation dropped 2.3% whereas demand deposits kept virtually unchanged. M1 thus decreased 0.4% from one month earlier. Concurrently, quasi-monetary liabilities dropped 0.4%. The sum of these two items, i.e. M2, decreased 0.4% to MOP455.3 billion. On an annual basis, M1 and M2 rose 12.0% and 16.4% respectively. The share of Pataca (MOP) in M2 stood at 24.6%, up 0.1 percentage point from a month ago but down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier. The share of Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) in M2 was 49.7%, down 0.7 percentage points month-to-month or 4.7 percentage points year-on-year.
Deposits
Resident deposits decreased 0.3% from the preceding month to MOP445.8 billion. Of which, MOP deposits and other foreign currency deposits grew at respective rates of 0.2% and 1.9% whereas HKD deposits decreased 1.7%. Non-resident deposits rose 1.0% to MOP196.7 billion. Public sector deposits with the banking sector also increased 0.9% to MOP85.4 billion. As a result, total deposits with the banking sector grew 0.2% from a month earlier to MOP727.9 billion. The shares of MOP and HKD in total deposits were 18.8% and 40.6% respectively.
Loans
Domestic loans to the private sector increased 3.4% from a month ago to MOP283.9 billion. Among which, MOP81.6 billion was MOP-denominated and MOP177.3 billion was denominated in HKD, representing 28.7% and 62.4% of the total respectively. Analysed by economic sector, "wholesale and retail trade", "manufacturing industries" and "construction and public works" increased at respective rates of 25.5%, 15.7% and 14.1% compared with a quarter ago, whereas "non-monetary financial institutions" and "agriculture and fisheries" dropped 42.2% and 23.5% respectively. External loans increased 2.0% to MOP296.0 billion; of which, loans denominated in MOP and HKD accounted for 1.9% (MOP5.5 billion) and 23.1% (MOP68.4 billion) respectively.
Loan-to-deposit ratios
The loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at end-March rose 1.8 percentage points from the previous month to 53.4%. The ratio for both the resident and non-resident sectors also grew by 1.9 percentage points to 79.7%.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the average daily wage of construction workers decreased by 0.8% quarter-to-quarter to MOP631 in the first quarter of 2014, and the average daily wage of local construction workers was MOP790, down by 1.7%. The average daily wage of unskilled workers was MOP377, up by 5.3% quarter-to-quarter, while that of skilled & semi-skilled workers was MOP640, down by 0.3%. Analysed by occupation, the average daily wage of electricians & electrical workers decreased by 12.2% quarter-to-quarter to MOP612 on account of an increase in semi-skilled workers, and that of concreters & drainlayers dropped by 9.4% to MOP575 due to a decline in demand; meanwhile, average daily wage of plant operators increased by 11.7%, at MOP861. After discounting the effect of inflation, wage index of construction workers (90.7) increased by 0.4% quarter-to-quarter in real terms, with the indices of plant operators and structural iron erectors rising by 9.7% and 6.9%, but that of electricians & electrical workers falling by 13.8%. Meanwhile, wage index of local construction workers (110.1) decreased by 0.5% quarter-to-quarter in real terms. As regards construction materials, average prices of concrete and spiral & round reinforcing steel bars increased by 4.9% and 1.0% respectively quarter-to-quarter, at MOP615 per cubic metre and MOP5,124 per tonne in the first quarter of 2014. Meanwhile, the price index of construction materials for residential buildings (127.2) in the first quarter of 2014 increased by 2.6% quarter-to-quarter.
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