CE meets with Liu Jiayi to improve audit work

The Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, met yesterday with the Auditor General of the National Audit Office of the People’s Republic of China, Liu Jiayi. According to a government statement, both parties debated ways to achieve a continuous improvement of their regions’ audit procedures. During the meeting, the CE emphasized the guidelines given by Mr Liu to the territory in the context of the participation in the conference, “Enhancing the Chinese government: How to fully play a role in the national audit.” Chui Sai On highlighted the important role of the audit and the fact that society itself is paying increasingly close attention to the work done in this field. Both parties discussed issues surrounding the use of technology as a means to increase efficiency. Liu Jiayi made a brief presentation on the results achieved by China’s National Audit Office.

Nomura expects June GGR decline

Nomura Research believes that Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) in June is unlikely to see growth and will instead mark the 25th consecutive month of year-on-year decline. GGR for the first five days of June amounted to HKD2.5 billion, implying an average daily GGR (excluding slot machines) of HKD468 million. If the averages are to keep consistent for the remainder of the month, then GGR for the month of June will be down between 2 and 7 percent compared with the same month in 2015, and between 8 and 12 percent less than that in May. Nomura said that its previous expectation of growth in June seems increasingly unlikely, though the shortfall recorded in the first five days of June may reflect the recent termination of phone-betting and the implementation of new UnionPay terminals. Alternatively it may be simply driven by volatility in GGR.

Gongbei customs intercept one million patacas in cash

On Monday, Gongbei customs inspected a local woman and discovered her to be carrying one million patacas in cash, according to a report by Jornal Va Kio. The woman, surnamed Choi, was in possession of two paper bags when she was checked. The money was divided into ten bundles in one of the bags, each consisting of one thousand pataca bills. This marks the 27th currency smuggling case in June to be recorded by Gongbei customs. The department has dealt with approximately 400 currency smuggling cases so far this year, involving a total of RMB50 million. It reminds the public to be aware that currencies are restricted items when passing through Chinese border control.