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The COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis are posing a great challenge to the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), raising many questions about its development in the near term. The pandemic has shattered plans for trade shows, conferences and business meetings. It is choking the consumer spending that fuels the service economy of Macao, in particular spending by tourists.
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust Macao into an economic downturn from which it can recover only with massive spending.
In this issue of Macao Image, we analyse a string of measures announced by the Macao SAR Government that are intended to ease the economic side-effects of precautions taken against the pandemic. More than MOP50 billion is to be spent in response to COVID-19, meaning the Government will incur its first budget deficit since the Macao SAR’s establishment in 1999. The measures are meant to help Macao residents and local enterprises overcome the crisis.
We examine key areas of the Macao SAR Government Policy Address for Fiscal Year 2020 called “Forging Ahead Towards New Horizons”. In his annual address to the Macao Legislative Assembly, Mr Ho Iat Seng, the Chief Executive of the Macao SAR, said this year’s key tasks included curbing the pandemic, protecting jobs, stabilising the economy, safeguarding the livelihoods of locals, implementing reform and spurring development.
Among the highlights of the Policy Address was the announcement that an intensive co-operation zone on Hengqin Island would be established to develop high-technology industries and serve to strengthen ties between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries. Mr Ho said Hengqin would become a prominent base for efforts by Macao to contribute to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as Macao further integrates with the national development effort.
Macao Image examines the efforts of Macao to become a financial services platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries. We spoke to several observers who said Macao was now fully ready to develop a modern financial industry. This would help the effort to make the renminbi more widely used in international trade.
Macao Image looks at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex (“the China-PSCs Complex”), the designated venue for the Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao). The complex will bring together many facilities under one roof, including facilities for commercial services, for matching buyers with sellers, for matching investors with ventures, for exhibitions and cultural shows, and for exchanging information. President Xi Jinping inspected the complex in December 2019, and he acknowledged the progress Macao has made toward performing its function as a Commercial and Trade Service Platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.
Finally, Macao Image highlights the success of companies that have benefited from the development of the economy of Macao and the ongoing, multi-faceted support that IPIM lends to investors in the city.
