Economy | Gov’t not requesting IVS expansion, EIU predicts growth back in 2017

Chui Sai On meets with the Secretary of Jiangsu CPC Provincial Committee, Luo Zhijun, during his visit in Jiangsu

The government is not seeking an increase in visitor arrivals from mainland China nor “actively requesting” the expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) policy, the Chief Executive said yesterday.
Speaking to reporters on the results of his discussions with mainland authorities, Chui Sai On said: “We will ensure that the quality of life of local residents will not be hugely influenced; and secondly, we also hope that we can satisfy the demands from the Chinese tourists that have chosen Macau as their travel destination.”
The IVS policy, first introduced in July 2003, allows people from designated cities in mainland China to apply for visas to travel independently to Macau and Hong Kong. Currently, people from 49 eligible cities in China can apply to travel to Macau and Hong Kong via this visit scheme.
China’s State Council stated on March 15 that it would assess how to “optimize and adjust” the IVS policy for mainland visitors travelling to Hong Kong and Macau, as part of Beijing’s support to the regional economy of the Pearl River Delta.
The optimum tourist carrying capacity of Macau stood between 32.6 million and 33.7 million visitors in 2014, or 89,374 and 92,325 tourists a day, according to IFT’s report published in March last year, cited by GGRAsia.
Meanwhile, Macau should return to economic growth in 2017, the year in which, according to experts from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) there will be a return to positive values with a real rate of 4.6 percent.
The positive growth occurs after three consecutive years of negative growth, of minus 0.9 percent in 2014, minus 20.3 percent in 2015 and a forecast for this year of minus 2.7 percent.
Gross fixed capital formation or investment will grow at a higher rate in 2017, according to the report, rising to 4 percent after growth rates of 0.9 percent in 2015 and a forecast of 0.7 percent this year, far from the 37.3 percent rate recorded in 2014.
This development stems from the fact that large private investors in Macau, the gambling license holders, have completed or are about to complete large hotel and game projects in Cotai, an area of landfill between the islands of Coloane and Taipa.
The inflation rate, in turn, should increase by 40 basis points to 4.9 percent in 2017, after this year totaling an expected 4.5 percent, following 4.6 percent in 2015 and 6 percent in 2014.
The trade deficit has expanded rapidly since 2009, a trend that is expected to continue this year and next but, given that exports of gaming-related services are of high value despite the contraction recorded last year and a half, the current account will remain largely positive. MDT/Agencies

‘center and platform’ policies meet in jiangsu

The Chief Executive yesterday said the establishment of a joint Jiangsu-Macao taskforce – to study options for building an industrial zone – would raise ties between the two places to a new level.
Chui Sai On, who is on a two-day visit in Jiangsu Province, made the comments during a meeting with the Secretary of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, Luo Zhijun.
The joint taskforce aimed to study the positioning and possible fields of cooperation of the proposed industrial zone, before the two governments take further steps, Chui said.
The Chief Executive said strong cooperation with Jiangsu had already been supportive to Macau’s economic development and would further help to develop and maintain the sustainability of the city’s economy in the long run.
Strengthening regional cooperation was one of the particular strategies that would help transform Macau into a world center of tourism and leisure and a commercial and trade cooperation service platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries (collectively known as “Center and Platform” policies), said Chief  Executive Chui. The Centre and Platform policies were first mentioned in the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan.