TNAG-1459-FCO40-1983-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Macau-1986 — Page 34

CODE 18-77

AWO Ltd. 7/84

-2-

Reference...

be an issue.

4. I called on Keith Holt, the Area Manager for the Hongkong Bank, a Welshman who has served the Bank for many years in the Middle East and in Shanghai. He has been in Macao for about 18 months. He said the economy of Macao was in a bad way. Property prices plunged in 1980 in line with those in Hong Kong, but in Macao they never picked up.

Nobody knew what would be proposed or decided in the talks to take place between the Portuguese and the Chinese later this month. There was no magic date as in the case of Hong Kong. The question was when the Portuguese would be willing or be allowed to hand over the administration to the Chinese. As in the case of Hong Kong, passports would

Macanese who held Portuguese passports before 1980 had the right of abode in Portugal and now that Portugal had joined the EC some were assuming that they would have the right of abode in the United Kingdom or any other EC country. He thought this could possibly cause some embarrassment in Hong Kong. Mr Holt said the banking community in Macao were hoping that the new Secretary for Economy, Finance and Tourism, Carlos Monjardino, would be able to do something about the economy. been a banker. He would find that construction had run

Mr Monjardino has ahead of demand in Macao; there were floors of office space available and the hotels had poor occupancy rates. Commerce was restricted by many of the bureaucratic procedures and corruption was endemic. The Government relied very heavily for 35% of its revenue on the gambling sydicate. He mentioned that the main casino, the Lisboa, closed for only 10 minutes a week: that was at midnight every Tuesday to allow the wheels to be balanced. Otherwise gambling went on for 24 hours a day. There was one other pause in the course of the year. This was after a dinner on the eve of Chinese New Year. The Governor

i

would rise from the table and all gambling would cease until he had placed the first bet of the New Year. Mr Holt said everybody was waiting to see what the new Administration would do. Neither the Governor nor the five Secretaries had ever stepped foot in Macao before last week. The Portuguese had not localised any of the senior posts in Government. There was some apprehension about the Portuguese reputation for leaving their colonies abruptly and in a poor state.

5. I called on the Chairman of the Municipal Council (the President), Carlos Ayresa, an ex-Major in the Army. He was appointed by the previous Governor (the Council is elected) and when we spoke he was preparing to call on the new Governor to discuss his future. He said the Council employs about 1200 people including a number of engineers and other technicians from Portugal. A considerable number of people from Macao had been sent to Portugal for training over the years, but few had returned. Steps were being taken now to encourage the return of such people and the Municipality were offering them jobs and replacing the Portuguese expatriates. He said Council employees were better paid than most of the workers in Macao. A Council worker received about HK$ 2000 a month whereas the average

/worker