Briefs | 100 applications to enter Hengqin with single plate

More than 100 owners of Macau single-plated cars have applied to enter Hengqin, of which 20 have already completed the application process, according to a report by TDM.  Hengqin disclosed this information last Friday during the trade zone’s two-year anniversary.  Moreover, Hengqin revealed that the trade zone has more than 30,000 registered companies with total capital in excess of RMB1,600 billion. There are 567 and 793 companies from Hong Kong and Macau, respectively. The trade zone also announced 24 new measures designed to improve its commercial environment and reduce businesses’ operational costs.

Eight residence burglaries recorded in Q1

The Judiciary Police (PJ) announced that there were eight cases of residence burglaries reported in the first quarter of this year, representing a 60 percent decrease. Last year, there were 20 cases in total. Based on the data available, PJ believes the decline is due to residents’ improved awareness of home security. PJ Director Chau Wai Kuong said that more associations are now members of the buildings’ crime prevention system, which currently has 470 members across 540 buildings in Macau.

Inflation slightly up in March

Year-on-year inflation in March increased by 0.72 percent, higher than February (+0.3 percent). The inflation is mainly due to an increase in the prices of meals outside the home, school fees and gasoline, according to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC). DSEC noted that the categories of Alcohol and Tobacco and Education recorded the highest growth – with increases of 8.8 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively – compared to March 2016. The rate of inflation measured by the average of the indexes of the last 12 months over the previous 12 months was 1.6 percent.