News

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI (116.09) for April 2012 increased by 6.76% year-on-year, attributable to the increase in charges for meals bought away from home, as well as dearer prices of fresh meat and vegetables. For the 12 months ended April 2012, the average Composite CPI increased by 6.27% from the preceding period; the average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 6.09% and 6.49% respectively. In comparison with April 2011, price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+29.55%); Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+9.52%); and Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+7.58%) registered marked increase on account of higher charges for meals bought away from home, as well as dearer prices of fresh meat, vegetables and gold jewellery. On the contrary, price index of Communication dropped by 6.55%. The CPI-A (115.47) and CPI-B (116.72) for April 2012 both increased by 7.01% year-on-year. The Composite CPI for April 2012 increased by 0.61% month-to-month, of which the price index of Clothing & Footwear rose by 4.42% upon new arrival of Summer clothing; however, price index of Transport decreased by 0.35%. The CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 0.56% and 0.68% month-to-month. The average Composite CPI for the first four months of 2012 increased by 6.40% year-on-year, with noticeable increase in the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+27.76%); Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+9.59%); and Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+8.44%). On the other hand, price index of Communication registered a decrease of 6.45%. The CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 6.39% and 6.69% respectively year-on-year. The 2008/2009-based Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP6,000 to MOP18,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP19,000 to MOP34,999.
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The Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) was confirmed by the Embassy of the Republic of Madagascar in Beijing that holders of the Macao SAR Passport can obtain visa-on-arrival when entering the Republic of Madagascar for a maximum stay of 90 days. At present, a total of 100 countries and territories have agreed to grant visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to the Macao SAR passport holders, while 9 countries have agreed to grant the visa-free access to the Macao SAR Travel Permit holders.
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Jointly organized by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) and the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation of Guangdong Province, and co-ordinated by the Macau Fair & Trade Association, the 2012 Guangdong-Macao Branded Products Fair (2012 GMBPF) will be held from 2 to 5 August at the Macau Fisherman's Wharf Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event takes up a total area of 6,000 square metres and converges trade, cultural exchange, shopping and entertainment into one economic and trade event. A major event to deepen exchange and co-operation and to explore business opportunities between Guangdong and Macao The first Guangdong-Macao Branded Products Fair was held in 2009 when the governments of the two territories started to make use of the event as one of the measures to strengthen economic and trade co-operation, as well as to step up Macao's moderate economic diversification. The GMBPF originated as an economic and trade event organized by the Guangdong and Macao governments, in line with the Outline of the Plan for the Reform and Development of the Pearl River Delta and the Strengthening of the Overall Strategic Co-operation Agreement signed by the two territories in March 2009. Following the signing of the Guangdong-Macao Co-operation Framework Agreement last year, there are increasing collaborations between the two territories, the role and the importance of GMBPF have been further enhanced. Based on the success of the past three years, 2012 GMBPF will help to promote closer co-operation and liaisons between Guangdong and Macao, to further explore markets and enhance businesses. Branded products of the Guangdong province could make use of the Macao business and trade platform to enter the Portuguese-speaking markets for more business opportunities. On the other hand, as the upsurge of Macao's consumer product prices over the past years has created heavy economic burden to the general public, it is hoped that GMBPF will bring along more options of branded products for Macao citizens and visitors, and enable local enterprises to have more channels of introducing products from difference regions and lower the costs . Selected quality enterprises The economic and trade promotion authorities of the Guangdong province have attached great importance to this event, and has designated the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation of Guangdong Province to organize relevant branded products and enterprises to take part in the fair. To ensure the quality of the event, the relevant Mainland authorities and departments will be very careful in shortlisting participating enterprises and will give priorities to those enterprises which have been awarded as branded products or well-known brands at the provincial level. Generating new thematic fairs from GMBPF To extend the effect of GMBPF, the organizer will pave the way for potential products by organizing thematic fairs, in order to assist them to explore overseas markets especially those in the Portuguese-speaking countries. Therefore, the Guangdong Pavilion will abandon the old zonal arrangement which was based on province, municipality or local area. This year, the pavilion will be arranged according to the business sectors, and focus on promoting branded products in three major business categories, namely foodstuff, daily necessities and gifts, so that products could be more focused and will assist buyers to easily source their desirable products. The Macao Pavilion will continue to focus on Macao Brands and Made in Macao products. More products are also expected from the Portuguese-speaking countries; therefore, priorities for exhibition participation will be given to Macao enterprises which act as an agent of products of Portuguese-speaking countries. Voting events to introduce diversity, innovation and interaction
Among the rich array of activities and events arranged, parallel events are also organized to increase public awareness, service quality of on-site sales personnel and the publicity of branded products and participating enterprises. Business matching, product seminar and presentations as well as procurement negotiations will be held to fully utilize the role of Macao's regional service platform. This year, two new activities are introduced namely, the voting of The Best Sales Team of the Guangdong-Macao Branded Products Fair, and The Most Popular Guangdong-Macao Branded Product. In view of the popularity of the use of the Internet and smart phone, specially designed applications (APPs) are available for download to allow participants to vote for their favourites through the internet or their mobile phones. It is hoped that the new activities can help to enhance interactions and more young people will be involved. To enable participants to understand more about GMBPF, different cities of the Guangdong Province will set up exhibition boards to showcase their selected branded products at their 'City Galleries'. The organizer has also arranged cultural entertainments, lucky draws and consumption coupons for distribution upon entrance of GMBPF to make the event more entertaining and more carnival-like, and encourage participants to enjoy their visit and shopping in a relaxed atmosphere. The Guangdong-Macao Branded Products Fair has gradually become a reputable event in Macao, and has successfully attracted the participation of a large amount of businesspeople, the general public and visitors. The first GMBPF has attracted more than 100,000 visitors whereas last year's event was participated by 111,000 visitors. Three types of Macao enterprises will enjoy 60% subsidy as incentive
Similar to the previous GMBPFs, 2012 GMBPF offers an incentive measure of 60% subsidy to participating Macao enterprises which fall under the business categories of 'Made in Macao', 'Macao Brands', or Macau enterprises which act as agents for products from overseas (with those from the Portuguese-speaking countries given priorities). Eligible enterprises could opt for standard exhibition booths or basic booths. After discounting the subsidies, the former will be Mop2,800 each while the latter will be Mop2,000 per unit. Registration period runs from 21 May to 1 June, on a first-come-first-served basis. All Macao enterprises are welcome to make use of the GMBPF to explore their business opportunities. Please register early as the number of booths are limited. Note: Products 'Made in Macao' – for products Made in Macao and exported from Macao, exhibitors are required to present the Certificate of Origin issued by the Macao Economic Services. Alternatively, for products made in Macao for domestic sales, exhibitors are required present their industrial licence issued by the Macao Economic Services. "Macao Brands" Products
- Exhibitors must present the trademark registration issued by the Macao Economic Services or other valid documentary proof. - Products with Macao enterprises as the agent. Exhibitors must present the authorization letter for acting as the agent of the relevant product or other valid documentary proof. For further information about the 2012 Guangdong-Macao Branded Products Fair, please call the GMBPF Hotline on +853-87989277.
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Jeffery Lao, Pastry Chef of IFT, Wong Weng U, Senior Sous Chef from Sands Macau and Ariel Chi, Maitre d' Hotel of City of Dreams teamed and won the Gold medal of 1st Asia Team Trophy Contest 2012. The contest was held by Escoffier Asia in Shanghai on 10 May. Four teams had been selected from 5 stars hotel in Greater China (2 from the Mainland China, 1 from Hong Kong, China and 1 from Macao, China) to compete for the Best Culinary Team Award. Each team is consisted of a Maitre d' Hotel, a Pastry Chef and a Chef. During the contest, they had to prepare a French set meal with appetiser, main dish, dessert plus a show piece. Team spirit, cooking skill and food and beverage service skill were highly emphasised in this contest. Escoffier is a French non-profit culinary association founded in 1954. Escoffier has been in Asia for many years and it aims to promote French cuisine around the world. Ever since 2007, Escoffier Asia has been giving young chefs a unique opportunity to demonstrate their skills, offering them a tremendous facilitator for their careers. Last year, it also organised the Youth Hope Contest in Shanghai which showcased the outstanding talents and gastronomic trends. Jeffery Lao expressed that he had learned a lot in this contest and absorbed many new ideas of cooking through this international contest. He enjoyed working with the Macao Team and was glad to have won the Gold Medal. He also thank IFT for giving him full support for joining this contest and for which IFT is always engaged in different events for the promotion of ethnic cuisine worldwide. Jeffery Lao believes that there are more and more local culinary talents emerging and participating in such activities can broaden their professional knowledge in this industry.
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Consumer Council conducted a test on the accuracy of fuel meters at 18 gas stations in Macao and all specimens passed. The Council conducted the mentioned test on petrol machines at 18 gas stations in Macao. According to the standard requirement, each fuel meter was tested thrice consecutively for the calculation of the difference between the actual output volume of fuel and the volume stated on the meter. All tested specimens passed this year, with a passing rate of 100 percent while last year's rate was only 94 percent. Test result and data of the same test conducted in previous years are available in the latest issue no. 225 of Consumer Report. The oil and petrol industry is called on to carefully monitor the accuracy of petrol machines for the sake of protecting the rights of consumers, and to renew components periodically to ensure accuracy and stability of the fuel meters. The current Consumer Report also features articles on the price changes of commodities and recommendation for 'Certified Shops' on choosing reliable product sources. Consumer Report is now available free of charge at the office of Consumer Council (Rua Inácio Baptista, Nº 6-6A Edificio Seaview Garden R/C), and the service counter of Consumer Council at Macao SAR Government Service Centre (Rua Nova da Areia Preta, Nº52), Public Information Centre at Vicky Plaza and libraries. Consumers may also access the resources online at the Council's official website (http://www.consumer.gov.mo). For enquiries, please call 8988 9315.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the 27 banks in Macao had a total of 5,228 employees at the end of the first quarter of 2012, up by 7.5% year-on-year. Analyzed by occupation, technicians and associate professionals totalled 1,466, an increase of 13.5% year-on-year; 2,341 were clerks, with 842 being bank tellers. In March 2012, average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) of full-time employees amounted to MOP20,810, up by 5.9% year-on-year. Average earnings of bank tellers stood at MOP12,060 and that of professionals amounted to MOP23,120, up by 12.1% and 7.2% year-on-year respectively. At the end of the first quarter of 2012, number of job vacancies of the Banking Sector totalled 223, down by 19.8% year-on-year; vacancies for clerks stood at 119, with 52 for bank tellers. In terms of recruitment prerequisites, 59.2% of the vacancies required working experience and 73.1% required tertiary education. Besides Cantonese, other preferred language skills were Mandarin (91.5%) and English (88.3%). The Banking Sector hired 206 new employees in the first quarter of 2012, lower than the 470 recruits in the third quarter of 2011, bringing the employee recruitment rate down substantially by 5.3 percentage points from 9.3% to 4.0%. The job vacancy rate was 4.1%, up by 1.6 percentage points from the third quarter of 2011, with the vacancy rate for professionals topped at 7.5%.
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In order to promote museum culture, admission to the Macao Museum, under the Cultural Affairs Bureau, and the Tak Seng On Traditional Pawnshop Museum will be free on the International Museum Day. The organisers will also organize two free public guided tours and a series of activities on the same day. Since 1977 the "International Museum Day" has been celebrated annually on 18th May by initiative of the International Council of Museums. The Macao Museum celebrates this date with a series of activities, including free admission and two guides tours, also free, at 11am (in Mandarin) and at 3pm (in Cantonese). On the same day, in order to promote the preservation work of the world cultural heritage and increase social awareness to cherish and protect Macao's historical heritage, the Museum organizes a lucky draw as well as a competition titled "Test your knowledge about Macao's World Heritage Sites", from 11am to 1pm and from 3pm to 5pm, to enrich the population's knowledge about these sites. Participation is open not only to residents but also to visitors. In May, museums around the world promote museological heritage. This year, the Macao Museum presents the Exhibition "Maritime Porcelain Road - Relics from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Museums" co-organized by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture, the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, with artefacts from the Guangdong Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Macao Museum's collections. The exhibition displays the history and impact of the Chinese porcelain sea export trade, spanning for almost two millennia, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. This is already the second time the three regions cooperate to organize a large-scale relics exhibition. "Maritime Porcelain Road" will run from May 26th to October 7th 2012 at the Macau Museum, after which it will be displayed in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. The opening ceremony of the exhibition will be held at 5pm on May 25th (Friday) at the Mount Fortress Garden. For more information, please call 28357911, during office hours, or visit the Macao Museum website at www.macaumuseum.gov.mo, or the website of the Cultural Affairs Bureau at www.icm.gov.mo.
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To facilitate the promotion and development of Macanese cuisine, IFT had participated in the filming of "Macau, an Oriental Passion", produced by the Portuguese Television, RTP2. "Macau, an Oriental Passion" is a documentary programme portraying the important roles of gastronomy in Macao during 1930s and 1940s, while expressing the cultural side of Macao during that period. In the programme, Graça Pacheco Jorge was filmed for Macanese Cuisine cooking demonstration in IFT kitchen. During the filming, Graça prepared 3 traditional Macanese dishes: Portuguese Chicken, Fish in a Soya Sauce and Fried Chinese Cabbage for demonstration and together with her husband, they were being filmed in IFT Educational Restaurant to talk about the cream of Macanese cuisine and their memories of Old Macao. GRAÇA, born in Macao, is descendent of an ancient Macanese family. In 1992, she wrote the book "A Cozinha de Macau de Casa do Meu Avô" which was edited by Macau Cultural Affaris Bureau and re-edited by Editorial Presença in Lisboa in 2003. In 1999, she was invited by the Japanese TV Channel (NHK) to participate in a prime time Tokyo TV Show, to talk about Macanese culture and gastronomy. In 2004 she participated in several programmes for the Portuguese National TV about Macanese Cuisine. Throughout the period of 2009 to 2011, she has maintained her activity of divulging the Macanese gastronomy with workshops, theoretical and practical classes, in partnership with Macau Tourism Promotion and Information Centre in Lisbon, and Casa de Macau (Lisboa). In June 2010, she was being elected as "Honorary Member of the Macanese Gastronomy Association". She had also worked with IFT last year for the Macanese Cuisine Cooking Demonstation Workshop. IFT has always been dedicated to promote different ethnic cuisines for the public, especially the Macanese Cuisine. IFT has been co-organising Macanese Cooking Competition in the past few years, published a Macanese Cuisine related cook book named The Art of Macanese Cuisine & Other IFT Delights. Signature Macanese cuisine dishes are also provided at IFT Educational Restaurant. All of these can facilitate Macanese cuisine promotion. By participating in the filming programme this time, it is hoped that the spirit of Macanese cuisine, a real unique cuisine representing Macao together with local culture can be spread to more places in the world.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that a total of 3,592 building units were purchased and sold at MOP11.71 billion in the first quarter of 2012 as per Stamp Duty record, up by 1.4% and 15.7% respectively quarter-to-quarter. There were 2,344 residential units amounting to MOP8.31 billion, up by 7.9% and 32.6% respectively over the previous quarter. Analyzed by year of completion of the building, 781 residential units purchased and sold were completed in 1990-1999, and 632 units in 2010 and after (including 342 pre-sale units in uncompleted residential buildings). As regards floor area of the unit, 1,139 residential units (48.6% of total) had an area of 50 to 99.9 square metres. The average transaction price of all residential units amounted to MOP45,453 per square metre of usable area, up by 9.5% quarter-to-quarter. The average price of those in the Macao Peninsula (MOP41,266), Taipa (MOP48,107) and Coloane (MOP83,173) increased by 5.2%, 6.8% and 29.8% respectively quarter-to-quarter. Analyzed by floor area, the average price of residential units with an area of 150 square metres and over increased by 21.9% quarter-to-quarter to MOP70,960 per square metre. In addition, the average price of office units increased by 5.1% quarter-to-quarter to MOP40,362 per square metre, and that of industrial units rose by 15.4% to MOP16,068 per square metre. In the first quarter of 2012, a total of 1,990 cases of real estate sale and purchase contracts were made, up by 1.0% quarter-to-quarter, and the number of units rose by 37.6% to 3,248. Moreover, there were 1,388 cases of residential mortgage contracts signed, a decrease of 9.8% quarter-to-quarter. In the first quarter of 2012, gross floor area of buildings completed totalled 9,164 square metres, altogether providing 36 units (24 are residential units), 17 parking spaces for cars and 6 parking spaces for motorcycles.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao released today the credit card statistics for the first quarter of 2012. The total number of personal credit cards in circulation was 575,445 at the end of March 2012, equivalent to an increase of 3.2% over a quarter ago. The numbers of Pataca (MOP) cards, Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) cards and Renminbi (RMB) cards were 424,775, 67,344 and 83,326 respectively. MOP cards, HKD cards and RMB cards witnessed respective growth of 2.7%, 0.9% and 8.1% quarter-to-quarter. On an annual basis, RMB cards recorded an upsurge of 122.1% while MOP cards and HKD cards grew 18.7% and 8.9% respectively. As at the end of March 2012, credit card credit limit granted by banks in Macao reached MOP9.4 billion, up 5.4% from end-December 2011. Credit card receivables amounted to MOP1.3 billion while the rollover amount totalled MOP458.7 million, accounting for 34.6% of credit card receivables. The delinquency ratio, i.e. the ratio of delinquent amount overdue for more than three months to credit card receivables, increased slightly to 0.88%.
For the first quarter of 2012, the credit card turnover slid 2.2% quarter-to-quarter to MOP2.7 billion. The cash advance turnover was MOP148.6 million, accounting for 5.4% of total credit card turnover. Credit card repayments, in which payments for interest and fees are included, went up 8.6% from the previous quarter to MOP2.9 billion.
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