Briefs | Lawmaker calls for clear plan to reopen entertainment venues

Following the government-ordered shutdown of certain entertainment and leisure venues amid the city’s latest four cases of Covid-19 infection, lawmaker Ho Ion Sang called for details about reopening, such as the conditions and timeline, which the government has not announced. With the closures in place and a decrease in tourist arrivals, these businesses are facing strong financial challenges. The lawmaker recommended the government extend current support measures to help affected businesses pass through this difficult time and keep the community stable.

Qingmao Border Building ready for operations

The installation of auxiliary facilities around the newly built Qingmao Border Building is mostly complete. The new border checkpoint will operate 24 hours a day. With its relative proximity to the city’s main district of Fai Chi Kei, it is expected to ease the burden on the Border Gate. The building is connected with supporting facilities, such as the bus terminus at the new Ilha Verde Economic Housing Estate. The border checkpoint will be home to 100 automatic and four manual immigration clearance channels.

Forex reserves amount to MOP210 billion

The preliminary estimate of Macau’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP209.9 billion at the end of July, the SAR’s monetary watchdog stated. The latest statistics from the Monetary Authority of Macao indicate that the reserves increased by 0.1% from the revised value of MOP209.8 billion for the previous month. The city’s foreign exchange reserves as at the end of July represented 11 times the currency in circulation or 86.2% of pataca M2 at the end of June. The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 0.85 points month-on-month but fell 3.92 points year-on-year to 103.3 in July.