Briefs | Mainland-Macau trade drops by 31.6 percent

The trade volume between mainland Chinese and Macau dropped 31.6 percent year on year from January to October this year, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday. The mainland-Macau trade volume from January to October stood at USD2.69 billion, including USD2.58 billion in exports from the mainland to Macau. From January to October, mainland China approved 597 investment projects by business people from Macau, being an 80.4 percent increase compared with the same period last year, while mainland non-financial direct investment in the region stood at USD430 million. The mainland received USD3.35 billion investment from Macau between January to October, up 291.4 percent year-on-year. 

Tour guide pressures mainland tourist to shop

A 60-year-old mainland woman, surnamed Wu, was forced to buy a HKD1,800 bracelet in Macau, after being driven to tears by her Hong Kong tour guide.  According to a report by Apple Daily, the mainland tourist paid RMB980 for a package tour to travel to the two SARs, which was purported to be a seven-day travel package. Wu said that from the moment the package tourists arrived in Hong Kong, the female tour guide intimidated them into shopping, warning them that if they did not cooperate with her, they would have “no hotel to stay in and no food to eat.”

Guangdong lowers requirements of SARs’ lenders

Starting from next year, Guangdong will amend the requirements for Macau and Hong Kong lending companies, according to a report by Nan Fang Daily. The new policies will require Macau and Hong Kong entities, expecting to open financing companies in the province, to comply with the same qualifications as the mainland companies. Currently, the companies from the two SARs are faced with stricter requirements than their mainland counterparts. Guangdong expects such measurements to attract more investment from the two SARs into the city.