Residents’ investment abroad surges

Macau residents’ investment in securities issued by unrelated non-residents (excluding foreign exchange reserves) reached MOP662.9 billion at current market value at the end of last year, according to statistics released by the Monetary Authority of Macau, representing a rise of 36.8 percent from end-2016.

Among the various instruments of portfolio investment, equity securities, long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities were valued at MOP240.4 billion, MOP393.3 billion and MOP29.2 billion respectively. As compared with end-2016, equity securities, long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities rose by 30.8 percent, 37.6 percent and 95.4 percent respectively.

By geographical distribution, the Asian region continued to occupy the largest share of Macau residents’ external portfolio investment, at almost 60 percent, while the rest was mainly placed in the North Atlantic and Caribbean regions (15.1 percent), Europe (11.9 percent), North America (10.5 percent) and Oceania (2.2 percent).

Investment in securities issued by mainland Chinese entities, including those securities listed on non-mainland exchanges, continued to hold the leading position, occupying 43.1 percent of local residents’ portfolio investment outside Macau.

Meanwhile, the share of investment in securities issued by Hong Kong entities fell from 13.6 percent to 12.7 percent, yet the corresponding market value rose by 27.4 percent to MOP83.9 billion.

The market value of Macau residents’ investment in countries along the “Belt and Road” (excluding mainland China) rose by 22.6 percent from end-2016 to MOP21.4 billion, equivalent to 3.2 percent of the total portfolio investment abroad.

Meanwhile, the market value of portfolio investment in Portuguese-speaking countries was MOP91 million, which was placed in securities issued by entities in Brazil and Portugal.

The information comes from the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey, jointly conducted by the Monetary Authority of Macau and the Statistics and

Census Service, which follows the methodology advocated by the International Monetary Fund.