News

The Vice President, Mr Xi Jinping, is to pay a two-day visit to Macao on Saturday, at the invitation of the Macao SAR Government.
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In accordance with the provisions of the MSAR Administrative Regulation No. 20/2008, the Bank of China has been authorized to issue new Pataca notes with denominations of MOP1000, MOP500, MOP100, MOP50, MOP20 and MOP10. The Bank of China held a ceremony to commemorate issuance of the new Pataca notes on the 33 floor of the Bank of China Building in the morning of 5 January 2009. Mr. Edmund Ho, the Chief Executive of the MSAR, Mr. Xu Ze, Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the MSAR, Mr. Lu Shumin, Special Envoy, Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Tam Pak Yuen, Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr. Anselmo L.S. Teng, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Monetary Authority of Macao, Mr. Li Lihui, President of the Bank of China, Mr. Hoi Sai Un, Director of the Macao Chinese General of Commerce, Mr. Ao Huicheng, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation, Mr. Ye Yixin, General Manager of the Bank of China Macao Branch officiated the ceremony which was witnessed by more than 100 celebrities of our community. Mr. Anselmo L.S. Teng, Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Macao indicated in the ceremony that the Bank of China Macao Branch was authorized to issue Pataca notes in 1995. All through the years, it had fulfilled its duties in a most professional and responsible manner which ensured the smooth functioning and management of the issuance of the legal tender of the Special Administrative Region. In the past 13 years, the Bank of China Macao Branch issued Pataca notes four times. In 2003 and 2005, upon the request of the Monetary Authority of Macao, the Bank of China Macao Branch modified and reprinted MOP10 and notes of other denominations by inserting in the notes special features with a view to preventing counterfeits. The move enhanced counterfeit prevention which satisfied the need of our citizens. The new issuance adopted Macao cultural heritage as the main theme which embodied the harmony of the cultures of the East and the West indigenous to the MSAR. Its popularity would be well expected. Mr. Teng envisaged that, with the rapid economic development of the MSAR, the Pataca was playing a more important role as a medium of payment locally in terms of both volume of circulation and territorial recognition. The Pataca notes were recognized and used by the 20 million odd tourists who visited Macao every year. In addition, the Monetary Authority of Macao and the Bank of China arrived at an cooperative agreement in September 2002 whereby the circulation and conversion of the Pataca notes on the Mainland was enhanced; in the major cities of Guangdong Province, we saw progress in savings denominated in Pataca and more ramified exchange network. On the other hand, the new notes carried artistic designs and anti-counterfeiting measures were added. The notes were becoming more user friendly and convenient. The new notes would circulated together with the old versions without any inconvenience caused. Mr. Li Lihui, President of the Bank of China said in his speech that the new 2008 new notes issued by the Bank of China Macao Branch were a brand new product crystallized from experiences accumulated in the past successful issuances. The new notes featured Macao cultural heritage as the main theme which fully realized the harmony of cultures of East and West. The most up-to-date technology had been deployed in paper selection, printing and counterfeit prevention. He believed that the new version would fully satisfy the needs of both Macao citizens and tourists in their daily transaction and conversion. The new version also carried a special mission in helping the MSAR Government to promote Macao as an international recreation and tourist hub. It was believed that the circulation of the new Pataca notes in the hands of the tourists would impart the image of Macao as a world renowned cultural city to other parts of the world. The new Pataca notes issued by the Bank of China features on the recto UNESCO cultural heritage of Macao which fully displays the flair of hybrid of architectural designs of the East and the West in the past centuries which embodies the gist of co-existence and harmony of cultures. The themes of the six denominations are being arranged in their historical/chronological order. The MOP10 note has the image of the A-Ma Temple on its recto, the ruins of the St. Paul’s image features MOP20 note, MOP50 note has the image of the Dom Pedro V Theatre, Guia Fortress is for MOP100 note, MOP500 note carries the image of the Mandarin’s House and the “Leal Senado” Building image features the MOP1000 note. The image of the Macao Banking of China Building features the verso of all notes with the four bridges of Macao in the background. These symbolize the “bridging” function of Macao in the communication of cultures and its economic development. The new notes are all modernity. Contemporary composite designs have been adopted which display the same theme via different angles and thus multiple messages are being carried in one design. The sizes, colours of the new notes are in line with the Bank of China Pataca notes which are currently in circulation. The new Bank of China Pataca notes will be released for circulation between 6 January 2009 and Chinese New Year. Meanwhile, the old notes continue to be our legal tender.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the value of total imports and exports of goods continued to decline in November 2008. The value of total exports of goods amounted to MOP1.07 billion, down by 42.6% year-on-year, with the value of domestic exports decreasing by 56.3% to MOP564 million and that of re-exports dropping by 11.7% to MOP504 million. The value of total imports of goods amounted to MOP3.39 billion, down by 15.1% year-on-year. A trade deficit of MOP2.32 billion was recorded for November 2008. From January to November 2008, total exports of goods fell by 18.7% year-on-year to MOP15.12 billion, with the value of domestic exports and re-exports declining by 25.9% and 4.8% respectively. Meanwhile, total imports of goods rose slightly by 0.9% to MOP39.69 billion, and the trade deficit for the first eleven months of 2008 reached MOP24.57 billion. The exports/imports ratio decreased from 47.3% in the first eleven months of 2007 to 38.1% in the same period of 2008. The value of Textile & garment exports declined by 28.7% year-on-year and its relative importance decreased further to account for 57.4% of the total exports of goods in the first eleven months of 2008; however, the value of Non-textile exports grew slightly by 0.1%, with exports of Image & sound appliances rising by 43.7%, but exports of Machines & apparatus, parts & accessories thereof and Footwear falling by 46.2% and 64.3% respectively. In the first eleven months of 2008, the value of merchandise exports to the USA, Mainland China and the EU decreased by 18.7%, 36.6% and 56.0% respectively year-on-year, but that to Hong Kong rose by 22.1%. The value of imports from Mainland China and Hong Kong amounted to MOP19.75 billion, accounting for 49.7% of the total imports in the first eleven months of 2008. In terms of broad economic categories, the value of imports of Fuels & lubricants and Consumer goods expanded by 18.1% and 14.9% respectively year-on-year, but that of Raw materials & semi-manufactures and Capital goods decreased by 19.3% and 8.9% respectively.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, today called on the people of Macao to unite as one to overcome the challenges lying ahead in 2009. In his New Year message to the people, Mr Ho said 2008 was a remarkable year for Macao, which was marked by its social stability in the midst of economic restructuring, effective gathering of public opinion and better distribution of economic gains to the public. He said the upcoming year would be critical for Macao, which would hold elections for the third-term Chief Executive and the fourth-term Legislative Assembly. He said the public’s extensive participation in these elections would push ahead the implementation of the principles of “One country, two systems”, “Macao people governing Macao” and a high degree of autonomy. The year 2009 would also be important in terms of economic and social development. Since Macao is facing the growing impacts of the global economic crisis triggered by the financial turmoil, the Government and the people should stay alert and prepare themselves for the challenges ahead. Mr Ho reminded the public that with the efforts we made in the past few years, the fundamentals of Macao had been greatly enhanced. Moreover, the Central Government had recently introduced a host of measures to support the development of Macao. Therefore, we should unite and be confident in dealing with the challenges ahead, Mr Ho said. Mr Ho expressed his warmest wishes to Macao citizens and wished Macao would have a better development in every aspect.
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The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP126.4 billion (USD15.83 billion) at the end of November 2008. The reserves rose by 2.1% from the revised value of MOP123.8 billion (USD15.50 billion) for the previous month. When compared with the same period last year, the reserves increased by MOP23.0 billion or 22.2%. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-November 2008 represented 29 times the currency in circulation or about 238.4% of Pataca M2 at end-October 2008. The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency’s exchange rates against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners, rose by 1.39 points month-to-month and 3.37 points year-on-year to 92.96 in November 2008. For enquiry, please contact: Research and Statistics Department, Monetary Authority of Macao (Tel: 83952532; Fax: 28353042)
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All the galleries of the Macao Museum of the Cultural Affairs Bureau - such as the Kun Iam Ecumenical Centre, Pawnshop Museum, Mount Fortress Corridor, etc. - remain open to the public on New Year’s Day (1st January, Thursday). The Tap Seac Gallery at Tap Seac Square and the Lou Kau Mansion in Travessa da Sé will also remain open, while the Museum of Sacred Art, located behind the Ruins of St. Paul, will resume regular opening hours from New Year’s Day inclusive, following the completion of two months’ maintenance. All citizens and tourists are welcome to visit the Museum during the holiday. In addition, guided tours will be provided as usual for the “Ingenious Woodwork – Macao Religious Figure Carving” Exhibition, recently launched by the Macao Museum to celebrate the first inscription of a local art on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage of China. Tours in Mandarin are conducted at 11:00 a.m. and in Cantonese at 3:00 p.m. All visitors are welcome.
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The Statistics and Census Service conducted the 2007/2008 Household Budget Survey (07/08 HBS), a sampling survey carried out once every five years, from September 2007 to September 2008. The statistical unit included all households residing in 5,720 living quarters selected by sampling. In accordance to the preliminary results, Macao had a total of 167,187 households in 2007/2008, with 133,548 households (79.9%) residing in private housing, 27,871 (16.7%) in economic housing and 5,768 (3.5%) in social housing. The average number of household per living quarter was 1.06 and the average household size decreased from 3.18 persons in 02/03 HBS to 3.14 in 07/08 HBS. Monthly consumption expenditure of all households in Macao totalled MOP 3.08 billion, up by 107.6% in nominal terms and 74.9% in real terms compared with the results of 02/03 HBS. Average monthly consumption expenditure per household amounted to MOP 18,394, an increase of 66.8% in nominal terms and 40.5% in real terms compared with MOP11,026 registered in 02/03 HBS. Total monthly income of all households amounted to MOP 4.10 billion, up by 99.5% in nominal terms and 68.0% in real terms. The average monthly income per household was MOP 24,528, which rose by 60.3% in nominal terms and 35.0% in real terms. The proportion of households with an annual average income of MOP 240,000 and more increased by 27.6 percentage points over that of 02/03 HBS to account for 50.7% of total number of households in Macao, while the respective share of those with an annual average income of less than MOP 48,000 was 4.6%, a decrease of 7.6 percentage points from 02/03 HBS, reflecting that household income was moving towards higher equality of income distribution. Furthermore, Gini coefficient that measures the inequality of income distribution of households decreased from 0.45 in 02/03 HBS to 0.37 in 07/08 HBS. The 80/20 ratio that reflects the distribution of household income went down from 11.4 in 02/03 HBS to 8.3 in 07/08 HBS. Global results of the 07/08 HBS will be available in April 2009.
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According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, the global financial crisis began to affect the employment condition of Macao. The unemployment rate and the underemployment rate for September-November 2008 was 3.3% and 1.6% respectively, up by 0.2 and 0.1 percentage point over the previous period (August-October 2008). Total labour force was 338,000 in September-November 2008, with an employed population of 327,000, down by 1,000 and 1,800 respectively compared with previous period, which was the first decrease registered in 2008. The unemployed population rose by 800 from the previous period to 11,000 in September-November 2008, the number of unemployed of the Construction and Gaming sectors rising more notably. Labour force participation rate stood at 70.5%, down by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period, but up by 0.2 percentage point year-on-year; meanwhile, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate both went up by 0.4%.
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The Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released summary information on the changes in the industrial structure of Macao for 2007, as follows. The major economic activities of Macao saw outstanding development in 2007, especially in the Gaming, Hotel, Wholesale & Retail, Real Estate and the Construction sectors. As the tertiary sector grew more vigorously than the secondary sector, the relative importance of the tertiary sector in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from 85.1% in 2006 to 86.0%, while that of the secondary sector fell from 18.7% to 17.7%. In 2007, the total gross value added of all economic activities of Macao increased significantly by 32.5% over 2006, with that of the Gaming sector rising by 37.2%. The overall intermediate consumption and compensation of employees grew by 27.4% and 31.7% respectively over 2006, with that of the Hotel sector soaring remarkably by 112.9% and 87.3% respectively. The ratio of total gross valued added to total gross output of all economic activities edged up by 0.2 percentage point to 50.0% in 2007, and the ratio of total compensation of employees to total gross value added rose by 1.0 percentage point to 37.9%. The relative importance of the secondary sector in GDP decreased by 1.0 percentage point from 2006. The proportion of the Construction sector grew by 0.6 percentage point to 13.8% owing to construction of the major gaming and tourism facilities at full speed and the booming real estate market; however, the relative importance of the Manufacturing sector and Electricity, Gas & Water Supply declined by 1.1 and 0.6 percentage point respectively to 2.8% and 1.1%. The relative importance of the tertiary sector in GDP grew by 0.9 percentage point, with notable increases in that of the Gaming, Real Estate and Wholesale & Retail sectors. The proportion of the Gaming sector rose by 2.3 percentage points from 33.3% in 2006 to 35.6%; Real Estate rose by 0.5 percentage point from 6.7% to 7.2%; Wholesale & Retail rose by 0.4 percentage point from 6.0% to 6.4%; meanwhile, the proportion of the Hotel sector and Renting & Business Activities rose mildly. The relative importance of the remaining industries, such as Restaurants; Transport, Storage & Communications; Banking; Insurance; Public Administration; Education; and Health & Social Work declined as the rate of increase of the respective gross value added was lower than the overall level of growth (32.5%) for all economic activities, on account of the increment in intermediate consumption was higher than that of the gross output.
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Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that visitor arrivals totalled 2,530,620 in November 2008, a year-on-year increase of 3.0%. Visitors from Mainland China (1,460,155), Hong Kong (695,491) and Southeast Asia (139,210) rose by 4.2%, 5.9% and 7.5% respectively. Same-day visitors took up 52.4% of the total arrivals, at 1,326,151. The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, which accounted for 57.7%; 27.5% and 5.5% of the total respectively. Among the Mainland visitors, 494,465 travelled to Macao under the Individual Visit Scheme, down by 22.8% year-on year. In the first eleven months of 2008, visitor arrivals rose by 13.4% year-on-year to 27,639,661. Visitors from Mainland China (16,110,647) and Southeast Asia grew by 20.1% and 38.5% respectively, and those from Hong Kong went up slightly by 0.6%. Furthermore, same-day visitors shared 53.1% of the total arrivals, at 14,668,638. Analysed by mode of transport, visitor arrivals by sea increased by 8.7% over the first eleven months of 2007 to 8,778,494, with 7,051,321 arriving at the Outer Harbour, down by 7.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, 1,360,374 visitors arrived at the Provisional Ferry Terminal in Taipa. Visitor arrivals by land rose by 15.6% to 17,303,695. Visitors arriving through the Border Gate increased by 12.5% to 16,395,539 and the majority were from Mainland China (80.5%) and Hong Kong (14.0%). In addition, visitor arrivals by air totalled 1,557,472, up by 17.3% over the first eleven months of 2007. Visitors arriving at the Macao International Airport rose by 15.6% to 1,525,174, with the majority coming from Taiwan, China (35.0%), Southeast Asia (30.7%) and Mainland China (22.0%).
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