Pesquisar

Policy Address for Fiscal Year 2021: Laying the groundwork for the rebound from the pandemic

In his annual speech to the Legislative Assembly delivered in the middle of November 2020, Mr Ho Iat Seng, Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), said the city would participate actively in the dual economic cycle of China to expedite recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The title of Policy Address for Fiscal Year 2021 was “Strengthening the foundation for consolidation, tackling challenges head on”. The address contained 10 main strands of public policy (see sidebar). The overall direction of the policies to be implemented in 2021 are epidemic prevention and control, revitalising the economy, caring for people’s livelihoods, promoting economic diversification, facilitating reform, and pursuing innovative development.

One major strand of public policy for 2021 is to accelerate economic recovery. The Macao SAR Government will adjust in good time the Macao General Tourism Plan in accordance with the normalisation of prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, to consolidate the position of Macao as a tourist city regionally and internationally. The Macao SAR Government will extend the tourism value chain to drive further development of the hotel, catering, retailing, and cultural and entertainment industries.

To intensify the synergic development of the economy, the Macao SAR Government will integrate tourism more closely with the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry, cultural and creative industries, and the traditional Chinese medicine industry. The Macao SAR Government will focus on promoting Macao’s image as a safe and healthy tourist destination, and on encouraging the Macao travel industry to develop new products associated with tourism. The effort is intended to speed up the recovery of tourism once the pandemic is under control.

The Policy Address mentions the need to increase public investment in infrastructure, including researching and promoting the construction of the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) East Line, in starting construction of transport infrastructure such as the LRT Hengqin Port Connection, and in the fourth Macao-Taipa cross-harbour route. The address mentions plans to expand Macao International Airport by converting part of the nearby Taipa Ferry Terminal into the second airport terminal, and to start construction of roads and other infrastructure on the reclaimed land in New Urban Area A.

To improve the city’s investment environment, the Policy Address mentions the need to proceed with the administrative reform of the “one-stop service for issuing licences and certificates”, and to optimise the investment services of the “one-stop service” system. This is aimed to intensify the promotion of trade and investment and open up new channels to attract investment, by boosting effectiveness of the system and to introduce projects that contribute to the diversification of Macao’s economy.

Mr Ho pointed out the need to promote the steady and healthy development of gaming by optimising the legal framework governing the sector. The Macao SAR Government will commence preparatory and preliminary work for the new gaming concessions.

To promote the city’s adequate economic diversification, the Policy Address mentions support for repositioning Macao’s industrial development. The Macao SAR Government will encourage the development of the “Made in Macao” brand and implement a bonus plan to encourage business development and enhancement to support companies upgrading or readjusting their business models, with the help of bank loans or financial leasing.

The Macao SAR Government said it plans to expedite the development of a modern financial industry and to facilitate a diversified development of the financial services sector. These efforts include accelerating the construction of a bond market in Macao, actively facilitating wealth management activities and pushing forward the construction of a cross-border renminbi clearing centre.

To boost the industrialisation of the traditional Chinese medicine industry, the Policy Address highlights the need to speed up legislative works linked to the registration and control of Chinese medicine products, to allow more products to be registered in Macao, and more processing and manufacture in Macao and Hengqin.

Macao-registered products may first be distributed in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and then be promoted to other regions. These efforts are aimed to give full play to Macao’s platform role and to promote further the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Co-operation between Guangdong and Macao, to develop and industrialise the results of the scientific research of traditional Chinese medicine in Macao and Hengqin, and to promote the medical products and services in the international market.

Another aim outlined in the Policy Address is the Macao SAR Government assisting the development of a professionally-run, market-orientated MICE industry. The policy includes: introducing more high-quality, large-scale and international MICE projects to Macao; encouraging participation of local companies in conventions and exhibitions held abroad through online and offline formats; and facilitating the synergic development between the MICE industry and other related industries.

In addition, to help increase the competitiveness of the staff in this industry, the Macao SAR Government will introduce courses related to international MICE certification and vocational training.

The Policy Address for Fiscal Year 2021 mentions the need to foster cross-boundary e-commerce by introducing world-renowned e-commerce companies, and to support events and activities relevant to e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce. The Macao SAR Government will encourage the establishment of e-commerce enterprises that do business between Mainland China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries to contribute to the growth of trade between both.

To boost local economic development, the Macao SAR Government will facilitate the commercialisation of culture and sport; and promote integration between cultural and creative sectors, and the technological innovation sectors.
To enhance support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the Macao SAR Government will optimise services to SMEs, effectively implement various support plans for their development, assist in solving problems related to a scarcity of human resources, and help by reducing, as much as possible, their financing costs with banks.

The Policy Address for Fiscal Year 2021 states the need to participate in the construction of the establishment of the International Innovation and Technology Hub in the Greater Bay Area, to optimise the technological innovation mechanism, and to press on with the transformation of the results of technological innovation and research.

To facilitate the development of a digital economy and to help Macao become a “smart city”, the Macao SAR Government will prepare short-, medium- and long-term planning for the construction of new digital infrastructure, working to speed up the application of a 5G network, and to promote the use of digital public services.

The text of the Macao SAR Government Policy Address for Fiscal Year 2021, in Chinese and Portuguese, is available for downloading from the Macao Government Portal website at www.gov.mo. The website also has summaries in English of aspects of the address.

Integration with national development

To proactively integrate in the national 14th Five-Year Plan is one of the main strands of public policy. The Chief Executive said the Macao SAR Government would participate actively in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Belt and Road initiatives, and work to facilitate the establishment of the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Co-operation Zone on Hengqin Island. These efforts are aimed to integrate Macao into the national development plan.

The Macao SAR Government will work to strengthen Macao’s role as a Commercial and Trade Co-operation Service Platform between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, and to assist with organising the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.

The Policy Address for Fiscal Year 2021 mentions the need to deepen co-operation by Macao and Hengqin Island in tourism, research, innovation and ensuring people’s wellbeing. The Macao SAR Government will expedite the establishment of the Macao New Neighbourhood project on Hengqin, and provide the necessary complementary social services in an orderly fashion.

To improve road access to Hengqin from Macao, part of the second phase of the Macao boundary-crossing area in Hengqin Port and its vicinity is expected to open in 2021, including the lane for goods vehicles and their occupants, and the bridge connecting the University of Macau to Hengqin Port. Also in 2021, a new border post, called the Qingmao Checkpoint, will open.

To make it more convenient for Macao residents to get to Mainland China, the Macao SAR Government will study how to let Macao vehicles enter Guangdong more easily through the border post at the western end of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

The Macao SAR Government will entice insurance companies and other financial institutions in Mainland China to put regional headquarters in Macao so they can expand into markets in the Portuguese-speaking Countries. It will encourage the issuance of bonds in Macao by companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area. To make cross-border investment more convenient, it will pursue a pilot project called Transboundary Financial Management, meant to facilitate interconnection of financial products to boost the flow of money across the border between Macao and Mainland China, and use of renminbi.

Welfare measures continue

The Macao SAR Government will carry on delivering the basic measures it undertakes for the benefit of the public, and take other measures meant to broaden domestic demand in spite of the pandemic. The expected spending on these measures in 2021 is about MOP18.5 billion and includes:

Wealth Partaking Scheme payments of MOP10,000 for permanent residents or MOP6,000 for non-permanent residents;
An initial allowance of MOP10,000 paid into the Provident Fund individual account of every eligible permanent resident;
Pensions of MOP3,740 per pensioner a month, and old-age allowances of MOP9,000 a year; and
Birth allowances increased to MOP5,418 per birth.