Gaming Concession Uncertainty Slowing Economy, IMF Says

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Gaming concession uncertainty slowing economy, IMF says

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that uncertainty regarding the future of Macau’s gaming concession rules has been acting as an obstruction to investment in the region and is the leading cause of an economic cool- off.

The lack of clarification over the requirements and regulations that will rule the new license tendering, together with the decline in exports of gaming services, were considered the two main factors contributing to the decline of Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half of this year, said the IMF to news agency Lusa.

According to the IMF’s mission chief for Macau, Mariana Colacelli, investors would need clarity regarding the system that will attribute new gaming licenses by 2022 so they can regain confidence.

“The uncertainty created by the expiration date of the gaming licenses in 2022 will have to be resolved so the investment [in Macau can] recover,” Colacelli said.

In their latest World Economic Outlook report which was published last week, the IMF updated its forecast for local GDP to fall by 1.3% this year, followed by another fall of 1.1% in 2020.

The report also suggested that economic growth might not return to Macau before 2024.

“We forecast a contraction in 2019 as gaming revenues are negatively affected by China’s slowdown,” said Colacelli.

Previously, the IMF had projected that the local economy would expand by about 4.3% this year and 4% in 2020, while warning that depending on how the trade tensions between China and the U.S. develop, the economy could dip further.

Official data showed that Macau’s GDP fell by 1.8% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019, after declining by 3.2% in the first three months of the year.

Real exports of gaming services from Macau were down by almost 1% in the second quarter of this year when compared to the year earlier.

In the same period, gross gaming revenue also fell by 0.5% year-on-year, leading to a total contraction of 1.7% during the first nine months of the year.

In her statements to Lusa, Colacelli noted that the IMF expects that with the establishment of Macau’s new government led by Ho Iat Seng, in December this year, new measures could be presented to address to the problems detected. RM

Source: Wisers electronic service. This content, the trademarks and logos belong to Wisers, the relevant organizations or copyright owners. All rights reserved. Any content provided by user is the responsibility of the user and Wisers is not responsible for such content, copyright clearance or any damage/loss suffered as a result. Print out of Wisers electronic service. Macau Post Daily | Highlight of the Day 3 | Circulation / Reach: 5,800 | 2019-10-24 Newspaper | P01,P05 | POST | the headline Word Count: 755words | Image Size: 822.3cm-sq(29.4cm x 20.4cm,10.7cm x 20.8cm) | Ad-Value: HKD3,935 Keyword Matched: gamble,macau

Gang helps mainlanders enter Macau illegally via construction site: police

Staff Reporter The Judiciary Police (PJ) and the Zhuhai Public Security Bureau have jointly busted a people- smuggling gang which helped mainlanders enter and leave Macau illegally via a construction site near the Zhuhai- Macau land border in Ilha Verde, PJ spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a special press conference yesterday.

In a joint operation on Tuesday night, the local police arrested a suspected member of the gang and caught four illegal immigrants at the construction site, while the Zhuhai police arrested two suspected kingpins and two members of the gang there.

According to Leng, the gang, which had been operating for one month, arranged for illegal immigrants to enter the construction site from Zhuhai through a small hole. The illegal immigrants then pretended to be construction workers who joined the bona fide workers when they were leaving the site at night.

Leng said that the gang, run by mainlanders, made use of the construction site located in Estrada do Canal dos Patos to help illegal immigrants enter and leave Macau illegally. While Leng did not reveal the location of the construction site, but sources said the gang most likely used the construction site of the ongoing Qingmao border checkpoint project for its people-smuggling operation.

The Qingmao border checkpoint will consist of a Macau checkpoint building and a Zhuhai checkpoint building. The whole Qingmao checkpoint complex – including the Zhuhai-side building – is built by the Macau government. The whole project is being paid for by the Macau government, with the Guangdong government providing all the necessary support tasks for the project. The Zhuhai-side building will be situated on land owned by the Zhuhai government.

The Judiciary Police said at yesterday’s press conference that they were recently tipped off that a people- smuggling gang was helping mainlanders enter Macau illegally from Zhuhai via the construction site in Estrada do Canal dos Patos in Ilha Verde. Through their cross-border communication mechanism, the Macau and Zhuhai police launched their joint operation, during which PJ officers arrested a member of the gang and caught four illegal immigrants at one of the entrances to the construction site on Tuesday night, according to Leng.

Continued on p.5 Leng identified the gang member arrested in Macau as a 30 year-old male mainlander surnamed Wu who told the police that he works as a construction worker on the mainland. The four illegal immigrants from the mainland, aged between 28 and 33, comprise three men and a woman. The three men were attempting to illegally enter Macau, while the woman was attempting to illegally leave Macau.

At round the same time, the Zhuhai police arrested two kingpins and two members of the gang there and seized a car used to transport illegal immigrants to the Zhuhai side of the construction site, according to Leng, who did not mention their gender.

Up to 28,000 yuan According to Leng, the gang charged each illegal immigrant between 16,000 and 28,000 yuan (between 18,290 and 32,000 patacas). The four illegal immigrants told PJ officers that they came to Macau to gamble in casinos.

The gang’s modus operandi, according to yesterday’s press conference, was that some members of the gang had previously reconnoitred the construction site to familiarise themselves with the area where they discovered a small hole in a “hidden” location.

The gang arranged for those wanting to illegally enter Macau to secretly enter the construction site from Zhuhai

Keyword Matched: gamble,macau via the small hidden hole, according to Leng, who said that before they could enter the construction site, they needed to climb an equivalent to five storeys high and crawl through a 10-metre-long passage “full of bends.”Workwear stolen Gang members had also stolen a number of items used by construction workers such as hard hats, reflective workwear and safety shoes, before the gang arranged for those who had entered the construction site from Zhuhai to pretend to be construction workers by wearing these items. Those pretending to be construction workers then joined the bone-fide construction workers when the latter were leaving the construction site at the end of the working day so that the former could illegally enter Macau, according to Leng.

Leng described the process of the illegal immigrants entering Macau as dangerous.

Wu – the suspected gang member arrested in Macau – and the four illegal immigrants have been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for further questioning. Wu faces possible charges of membership of a criminal organisation as well as aiding and abetting illegal immigration.