Our Desk | Forecasts for a ‘Pig’ Year

Renato Marques

To start with, I must say that my knowledge on topics such as astrology, horoscopes, the zodiac and similar things is absolutely null. In fact, my absolute disbelief in these things is such that I consider them solely in the context of amusement and entertainment.

Having said that, I believe I am the right person to bring you forecasts for the prosperous (as it always is) Year of the Pig which has just started and has already brought joy and fortune to all Macau residents through a flood of over one million (who knows really) visitors, who were said to have visited this little corner of the universe in a week.

If you are one of those (few) that did not feel any joy or fortune from such a (friendly) invasion, I suggest you reset your system by pressing “Ctrl + Alt + Greater Bay Area.” When the system reboots, make sure you choose the option “Belt and Road” and tick the small square under it to accept all the conditions attached without reading them. Ok, now we are all ready to go!

For the Year of the Pig, I forecast that although the number of tourists has exponentially risen, the retail sector will continue to struggle, complaining of high rental fees and difficulties hiring manpower, among other things.

This year, we will continue to see taxi drivers overcharging, refusing transportation and locking passengers inside taxis as hostages.

Under the sign of prosperity brought by the Pig, our health system will also continue to be the “best in the world,” so says our Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture.

Another of the many metrics on which Macau will continue to be world’s number one this year is gaming revenue. This is an industry that keeps growing according to the words of everyone involved, although in the eyes of those not involved it does not seem to be that way exactly – a fact that is easy explained by a lack of knowledge in the field from those who are just observers and outsiders.

Without asking the opinion of any Feng Shui specialist, I can still forecast that our real estate market will continue to be unbalanced, and that real estate agents will also continue to invade our social networks with amazing bargains that only an Arabian Prince or Ali Baba could afford.

Moving onto legislation, I dare to forecast that all bills proposed by the government this year will pass without hassle at the Legislative Assembly, with just a few remarks by one or two lawmakers who will then vote in favor of the bill’s approval anyway.

By the same token, I can predict that lawmaker Mak Soi Kun will continue to bring up the topic of “water infiltration” as often as Zheng Anting will continue to mention the government’s inability to solve the case of the “Pearl Horizon buyers.”

Last but not least, let’s not forget that the Year of the Pig is the year of elections for the new Chief Executive. In this matter, I can forecast right now that the sole candidate running will be pronounced the winner, and approved by the Central Government and will do an amazing job leading the fate of this Special Administrative Region to further regional integration, to better participation and influence in the “Greater Bay Area” and to a relevant role in the “Belt and Road Initiative.”

If you do not agree with these forecasts, please reboot your system as many times as necessary throughout the year.

P.S.: I still wanted to talk about the LRT, but unfortunately there was some issue that caused a delay and an added budget so I could not finish that part on time.