BRIEFS |Audit report : Subsidy schemes ‘to be amended,’ Tam’s word

Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Mr Alexis Tam, pledged “to amend the assessment procedures of subsiding schemes for underprivileged individuals and families,” a note from the Government Information Bureau reads. The pledge was made following a report released by the Commission of Audit, which indicated irregularities of the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) in handling subsidy applications. Secretary Tam has instructed IAS to systemize its assessment standard, and to make appropriate changes to subsidy verification methods and allocation mechanisms in the following 60 days.

Current account recorded a ‘large surplus’ last year

The current account continued to register “a large surplus at MOP169.5 billion in 2014 due to net service exports. Meanwhile, the financial non-reserve assets, the dominant component of the financial account, showed a net increase of MOP97.1 billion mainly driven by recurrent growth in foreign financial assets of residents and the government sector,” the Monetary Authority (AMCM) announced yesterday in the preliminary balance of payments report. Exports of goods leaped by 19.7% year-on-year and imports of goods increased by 15.5%. With a much larger basis of imports than exports, the merchandise trade deficit enlarged from MOP85.4 billion in 2013 to MOP98.2 billion in 2014. On the other hand, said the AMACM note, “both service exports and service imports decreased in 2014, falling by 0.9% and 10.5%, respectively. As service imports dropped by a larger magnitude, the services account continued to record an increasing surplus, up from MOP333.4 billion in 2013 to MOP339.4 billion in 2014.

War correspondent’s 1937 photos on show

A photo exhibition of Fong Dazeng, the late war correspondent at Lugou Bridge Incident, will open at the Macao Forum. The exhibition will feature the then-25-year old journalist’s news reports and photographs that recorded the history of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army’s battle against the Japanese in July 7, 1937 at Lugou Bridge (also known as the Marco Polo Bridge). The Indent is seen as the marker for the start of China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that lasted eight years between 1937 and 1941. Organized by the Macao Media Workers Association and the Chinese Educators Association of Macau, the exhibition will run up until September 2.