Entries Categorized as 'Economy & Business'

Macau’s Composite CPI for June 2008 Rose By 9.05%

Date July 25, 2008

’s Composite CPI for June 2008 rose by 9.05% year-on-year to 124.72, of which the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages, Health and Transport soared by 18.16%, 14.63% and 12.94% respectively.

Among the subgroups of Food & non-alcoholic beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of canned meat (+83.32%), fresh beef (+75.08%), rice (+69.54%), edible oil (+55.94%), fresh pork (+45.46%), chilled or frozen pork (+41.22%), fresh water fish (+36.01%), noodles (+30.43%), vegetables (+18.66%) and charges for meals bought away from home (+15.35%). For the subgroups of Health and Transport, charges for medical consultation service (+25.65%) and prices of unleaded gasoline (+32.75%) registered marked increase. Despite Government’s pay out of electricity subsidy to all households, the price index of Housing & fuels rose by 7.96%, as a result of the substantial surge in the prices of LP Gas (+26.47%), charges for maintenance & repair services of dwelling (+27.18%) and rentals for housing (+14.87%).

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Macau First Half 2008 Visitors Arrivals Up By 18% to 15 Million

Date July 23, 2008

visitor arrivals in June 2008 totalled 2,343,451, a year-on-year increase of 22.0%. Visitors from Mainland China (1,358,912), Hong Kong (622,290) and Southeast Asia (128,058) rose by 36.6%, 0.6% and 42.3% respectively. Same-day visitors took up 53.1% of the total visitor arrivals, at 1,245,403.

The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, which accounted for 58.0%, 26.6% and 5.5% of the total respectively. In view of the tightening of the Individual Visit Scheme, 490,727 Mainland visitors travelled to under such policy in June, representing 36.1% of the visitor arrivals from Mainland China.

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Global Human Rights Torch Relay in Macau Disrupted By Officials

Date July 22, 2008

The Global Human Rights Torch Relay was disrupted by authorities on the weekend and five arrests were made, which were described as unwarranted by organizers.

The Global Human Rights Torch relay commenced in Athens on August 8 2007 to raise awareness of China’s human rights crimes in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

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Wife of Macau Bribery Taker to Join Him for 23 Years in Prison

Date June 7, 2008

Chan Meng Ieng, wife of imprisoned former Special Administrative Region (SAR) high-ranking official Ao Man Long was sentenced to 23 years in prison by the SAR’s Court of First Instance (TJB) Wednesday.

Chan along with three of Ao’s family members and three business associates were convicted of money laundering and bribery, according to the verdict. The trial of the case began in January this year.

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Macau Q1 2008 Gross Domestic Product Expands by 31.6%

Date June 1, 2008

In the first quarter of 2008, performance of the gaming sector continued to stay vibrant, with gross gaming revenue (excluding gratuities) soaring substantially by 61.8% in nominal terms compared with the same quarter of 2007, while total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) rose slightly by 4.3%; gross fixed capital formation dropped by 17.6% upon successive completion of large-scale construction projects, and exports of goods fell by 11.2%. Taking all relevant data together, GDP for the first quarter of 2008 expanded by 31.6% in real terms, higher than the 22.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2007.

In terms of major GDP components, private consumption expenditure in the first quarter of 2008 increased by 9.6%, lower than the 9.7% growth in the previous quarter. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market rose by 8.6%, while that abroad fell slightly by 1.7%, with the expenditure in Mainland China amounting to MOP 606 million.

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Macau April Visitor Arrivals Continues to Grow

Date May 24, 2008

visitor arrivals totalled 2,488,697 in April 2008, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%. Visitors from Mainland China (1,482,367) and Southeast Asia (141,655) surged by 29.8% and 47.2% respectively, while those from Hong Kong (620,538) decreased by 18.5%. Same-day visitors accounted for 52.9% of the total arrivals, at 1,317,388.

The majority of the visitors came from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, which accounted for 59.6%, 24.9% and 5.7% of the total respectively. Among the Mainland visitors, 41.1% (609,221) travelled to under the Individual Visit Scheme.

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Macau On Target For 30 Million Visitors in 2008

Date May 1, 2008

received 7.5 million visitors in the first quarter of 2008, which was a rise of 17.9 percent against the same period of 2007.

The number of visitors from mainland China was 4.38 million, which was a rise of 22.6 percent, while the number of visitors from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia rose 3.3 and 63.3 percent, respectively.

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Moody’s Says Macau Economy Is Solid

Date April 25, 2008

’s financial health is solid although there are some risks that make the territory vulnerable to external shocks, according to US ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service.

’s solid fiscal position has produced considerable public sector surpluses over the past five years and because it does not have any public debt that needs to be repaid, its budget surpluses are all saved,” said Steven Hess, senior credit analysts of Moody’s sovereign risk unit.

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