investment

Economic and trade exchanges between the Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan will become more liberal when the 3 Direct Links scheme is implemented, Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Frederick Ma says.

Mr Ma today told lawmakers that at the early stage of implementing the scheme, traffic between Hong Kong and Taiwan in respect of passengers destined for the major cities of Mainland through Hong Kong, and the cargo transhipments to and from ports outside the Pearl River Delta Region, will be slightly affected.

Macau generated revenue of 25.01 billion patacas (Bt9.19 trillion) for the first eight months of the year, of which 18.36 billion patacas, or 73.41 per cent, came from gambling tax. The second-largest income contributor is tourism.

Last year, this special administrative region of China recorded revenue of US$9.3 billion (Bt318 billion) from tourism, which is expected to increase to $15 billion this year. In the first half of this year, tourism income was $6 billion, up 38 per cent year on year.

On the back of strong economic fundamentals and optimistic outlook, investor sentiment in Hong Kong remained generally positive in the first quarter of 2007. Demand from both investors and end-users persisted, although the volatility in global and local stock markets has led some investors to become more cautious. As for the Macau’s investment market, the booming of the development of entertainment complexes in Macau which commenced in 2003-2004 reached its greatest intensity in 2005.