Macau News

BANK OF CHINA REPORT PRAISES MACAU GOVERNMENT
FOR BOOSTING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

     The report points out that "the Macau government announced a series of policies
and measures to boost the economy, reduce unemployment, stabilise the financial market and increase public security in 1998", adding that while their impact on the economic development remained to be seen, the measures were "indeed a positive step to boost the economy".

     The report acknowledges that the outlook for Macau's economic development is "still
overshadowed by several years of negative growth", stressing that "Macau will still be undergoing economic adjustment for a while".

     The report also says that Macau's overall economy in 1998 "continued to slide and the
situation became even more severe, relaying the trend of the previous five years". The Bank of China Group report estimates that Macau'ss gross domestic product possibly shrank some four per cent in 1998.