Macau
- Macau is located in the Pearl River Delta in the southern Guangdong Province on the western side of the Pearl River estuary, adjoining the city of Zhuhai to the north, and 60km away from Hong Kong across the sea. Macau consists of three parts: the Macau Peninsula, Taipa and Coloane. The Macau Peninsula is the centre of urban development in Macau, while Taipa and Coloane, which were originally two separated islands, are connected by land reclamation. The reclamation area is developed into Cotai which hosts many large hotels and resorts.
- Macau pursues an open economic policy. Its tax rate is among the lowest in the region. Fiscal system is sound. There is no limit in foreign exchange. It is a free port and has its own customs territory. Macau is an economy with strong economic vitality in the Asia-Pacific region. It is also an important gateway linking Mainland China with international markets.
- Since the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region, the economy has maintained high growth rates driven by the tourism and gambling industries. The gambling and junket activities are the main pillars of Macau, accounted for 49.1% of its overall industrial structure in 2017.
- In the 2020 Report on Index of Economic Freedom released by the Heritage Foundation from the U.S., Macau’s economy was rated “mostly free” for the 12 consecutive year, ranking the 35th freest among 180 economies.
Economic and Trade Relations Between Macau and Hong Kong
- In 2018, the total value of trade between Hong Kong and Macau reached HK$56.7 billion.
- On trade in goods, Macau was Hong Kong’s 19th largest trading partner in 2018.
- On trade in services, Macau ranked 15th among Hong Kong’s trading partners in 2017. Bilateral trade in services amounted to about HK$14.8 billion in 2017.
- On investment, Macau was the 16th largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Hong Kong and 12th largest recipient of FDI from Hong Kong at the end of 2017.
- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macau Special Administrative Region Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (HK-Macau CEPA) was signed on 27 October 2017. The HK-Macau CEPA covers, amongst others, trade in goods, trade in services, investment, intellectual property, and economic and technical cooperation. The commitments go beyond those undertaken by Hong Kong and Macau under the World Trade Organisation, providing enhanced legal certainty to market access or treatment to one another. The HK-Macau CEPA entered into force on the date of signature and the liberalisation of trade in goods and services provided for therein has been implemented on 1 January 2018.
Youth Innovation Entrepreneurship Bases
The ‘Macau Young Entrepreneur Incubation Centre’ commenced operation in 2018 and is the first national co-working space in Macau. It provides young people of Macau with a wide range of entrepreneurship support services, including enquiry service, business registration, professional consultation and business matching. It also offers temporary office space for free. The centre facilitates youth participation in the development of the Greater Bay Area and proactively takes forward the close cooperation with incubation centres in the Mainland. Through mutual recognition of youth entrepreneurship projects with the Mainland, it recommends young people of Macau to settle in incubation centres in the Mainland to assist them in starting a business in the Mainland. Currently, more than 70 projects have joined, of which key business areas include technology, commerce and service industry, and culture.
- Established by the Government of Macau SAR, the ‘Sino-Portuguese Young Start-ups and Innovation Centre’ commenced in 2017. Located in the Macau Young Entrepreneur Incubation Centre, it promotes exchange and cooperation among young people of the Mainland, Macau and the Portuguese-speaking countries in the area of entrepreneurship. It also serves as a platform which fosters creativity, attracts talents and enables resource sharing.
For Macau’s key measures on taking forward the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, please refer to the website of Macau SAR Government (in Chinese and Portuguese only).