News

As a member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), the Financial Intelligence Office (GIF) coordinates the AML/CFT Working Group to participate in the Annual Plenary Meeting of APG as a delegation of Macao, China each year. For this year, the plenary meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 24 to 28 July. Due to global COVID-19 pandemic and border control measures in different regions, APG organized, for the first time, its plenary meeting in a hybrid format (in face-to-face and virtual formats simultaneously). Macao, China joined this annual event in virtual format.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI for July 2022 (103.95) increased by 1.38% year-on-year. The increment was attributed to higher wages of domestic helpers, rising charges for eating out, as well as dearer prices of gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas; yet, the rise was partially offset by lower rentals for dwellings, falling charges for telecommunication services and reduced prices of pork. Among the various sections of goods and services, price indices of Household Furnishings & Services and Transport grew by 13.18% and 7.35% year-on-year respectively, whereas the index of Communication decreased by 10.09%. The CPI-A (103.68) and CPI-B (104.30) saw respective growth of 1.06% and 1.81% year-on-year.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the local confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in mid-June 2022 had notable impacts on the business performance of restaurants & similar establishments and retail trade. Receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments dropped by 34.1% year-on-year in June, with Japanese & Korean Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants recording respective decreases of 42.1% and 40.1%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers fell by 32.8% year-on-year in June; Motor Vehicle Retailers (-55.7%), Department Stores (-51.2%), Adults' Clothing Retailers (-44.8%) and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (-39.9%) posted a significant decline in sales, while Supermarkets (+28.1%) registered an increase.
…

Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM) held a virtual student orientation for the 2022/2023 academic year on 19 August, welcoming a total of 494 new undergraduate and postgraduate students from Macao, Mainland and beyond. During the ceremony, a video of the flag-raising ceremony was played with the national anthem sung solemnly. In the speech to the new students, President Dr. Fanny Vong warmly welcomed them to join the lively and diverse community of IFTM with the academic staff who are committed to providing them with the best possible educational experience and transforming them into outstanding talents who can meet the needs of the industry as well as the society.
…

The University of Macau (UM) held the Joint Meeting of the University Assembly (UA) and University Council (UC) for the 2021/2022 academic year in its Ho Yin Conference Hall on 18 August. Ho Iat Seng, chief executive of the Macao SAR, chancellor of UM, and chair of the UA, presided over the meeting. In his speech, the chancellor stressed that the SAR government had announced the second five-year plan of Macao, which would serve as a general blueprint for the city’s future development and would create conditions for higher education marketisation as well as research results transfer. UM should build itself on the practical needs of China and Macao and contribute to the sustainable development of Macao's economy and society through providing quality education, conducting key research studies, developing an innovative mode of industry-academia collaboration, and offering community services.
…

…

The new academic year is about to start. In order to protect the health and safety of teachers and students, the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) announced on 12^th August the epidemic prevention measures for school opening. Students and teaching staff of tertiary and non-tertiary education are required to return to their usual places of residence (Macao, Zhuhai or Zhongshan) before school starts, and on the school opening day, they should have a negative test result of a NAT taken within 72 hours.
…

Epidemic-prevention measures for inbound travellers of different identities
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that, owing to the lingering impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, visitor arrivals declined by 98.8% year-on-year to 9,759 in July 2022; the figure also represented a fall of 97.4% month-on-month. Numbers of same-day visitors (7,189) and overnight visitors (2,570) both recorded year-on-year decreases of over 90%. As people entering Zhuhai from Macao were subject to centralised medical observation in July, some visitors extended their stay in Macao, bringing the average length of stay of overnight visitors to surge by 22.0 days to 25.4 days. With the duration for same-day visitors remaining at 0.1 day, the overall average length of stay of visitors increased by 6.5 days to 8.3 days.
…

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that total spending of visitors (excluding gaming expenses) dropped by 46.3% year-on-year to MOP3.85 billion in the second quarter of 2022. Total spending of overnight visitors (MOP2.83 billion) declined by 55.7% year-on-year while that of same-day visitors (MOP1.01 billion) rose by 30.5%. In the first half of 2022, total spending of visitors amounted to MOP10.44 billion, down by 21.8% year-on-year.
…