anselmo l s teng : overview of recent financial and economic developments in macao speech by mr anselmo l s teng, chairman of the monetary authority of macao, at the spring cocktail reception, macao, 15 march 2007. * * * the honorable secretary for economy and finance, mr. francis tam ; the honorable director of the economic affairs department of the liaison office of the central people ’ s government in the msar, mr. zhou zhikui ; the honorable chairman of the audit committee of amcm, mr. leonel alberto alves ; the honorable chairman of the macau association of banks, mr. ye yixin ; the honorable president of the macau insurers ’ association, mr. si chi hok ; the honorable president of the macau insurance agents and brokers association, mr. tou kam seng ; the honorable president of the federation of macau professional insurance intermediaries, mr. frank ip ; the honorable president of the macau financial markets association, mr. chan kam chun ; the honorable president of the association of macau financial employees, mr. ng chi peng ; the honorable president of the macau money changers association, ho hao chio ; distinguished guests, friends of media, dear colleagues ; spring is around although chill is occasionally being felt. on the occasion of this reception held in the melody of spring, we farewell the past and embrace the future. here, i take the liberty of representing the board of the monetary authority of macao ( amcm ) to extend our warmest welcome to mr. francis tam, the secretary for economy and finance ; mr. zhou zhikui, the director of the economic affairs department of the liaison office of the central people ’ s government in msar ; our distinguished guests and friends of media. moreover, i would like to express my sincere gratitude to mr. francis tam for his unremitting support and guidance ; to the government departments, all sectors of the society and the business communities for their support and co - operation. under the auspices of the central government and the visionary leadership of the msar government, macao manages to sustain its past growth momentum with favourable development noted in consumption, investment and trade. basked in a buoyant market, unemployment rate continues to spiral downwards, gdp regains its double digit growth while surplus is noted in international balance of payment and fiscal account. the credit rating of macao has also been raised from “ stable ” to “ positive

anselmo l s teng : update of the economic development in macao opening remarks by mr anselmo l s teng, chairman of the monetary authority of macao, at the bis – advanced reserve management workshop, macao, 22 - 25 may 2007. * * * honoured guests, dear delegates, ladies and gentlemen, good morning, first of all, i would like to thank the bis for choosing the macao special administrative region ( msar ) as the venue for this workshop, and for inviting me to deliver this opening remark. i would also like to wish the participants a great stay in this enclave which is a combination of nostalgia and excitement, as well as a good blend of eastern and western culture. let me also take this opportunity to provide you an update of the economic development of macao. as you are aware, macao is a highly open economy. in 2006, macao registered another year of two - digit economic growth, at 16. 6 %. its gdp per capita reached usd28. 4 thousand, representing one of the highest among asian economies. tourism - dominated service exports, investment and private consumption all witnessed strong growth. as the leading industry, tourism showed splendid performance, with visitor arrivals reaching an all - time high of 22 million last year. the economy continued to fare well in the first few months of 2007 as the growth of the tourism sector hardly showed any moderating signs. visitor arrivals increased by 21. 4 % in the first quarter. after years of strong growth, however, the resource constraint and inflationary pressure have become apparent. while unemployment rate further shrank to 3. 2 % in the first quarter of this year from 3. 5 % in the last quarter of 2006, inflation was 4. 57 % in the first quarter after easing from 5. 15 % last year. in the past few years, the economic prosperity has been largely built on the thriving tourism services sector. specialising in a few economic activities, however, is widely believed to be risk prone and unfavorable to macroeconomic stability. diversifying the structure of our economy is therefore closely related to the sustainability of macao ’ s development, employment environment and the stability of the community. for a very small economy like macao that easily faces tight resource constraints and possesses a competitive tourism services sector, any diversification initiative naturally opts for a gradual approach with a long - term perspective in order not to incur a high cost of disrupting the development of the leading