MACAU
Location:
Macau is located in eastern Asia, 27 kilometres west-southwest of Hong Kong on the
southeast coast of China bordering the South China Sea. Its total area is 16 square
kilometres.
Population:
484,557 (July, 1994 estimate)
Languages:
Portuguese (official), Cantonese is the language of commerce
Government:
Macau is an overseas territory of Portugal scheduled to revert to China in 1999.
Legal System:
The legal system in Macau is based on the Portuguese civil law system.
Telecommunications:
Macau has fairly modern communication facilities for domestic and
international services. It has an international high-frequency radio
communication facility. It has access to international communications carriers
provided via Hong Kong and China, and has one Indian Ocean INTELSAT
earth station.
Economy:
The economy is based largely on tourism (including gambling) and textile and fireworks
manufacturing. Efforts to diversify have spawned other small industries - toys, artificial
flowers and electronics. The tourist sector has accounted for roughly 25% of GDP,
while the clothing industry has provided about two-thirds of export earnings. The
gambling industry represented well over 40% of GDP in 1992. Macau depends on
China for most of its food, fresh water and energy imports. Japan and Hong Kong
are the main suppliers of raw materials and capital goods.
Industries:
Macau's main industries are clothing, textiles, toys, plastic products, furniture and
tourism.
Currency:
Exchange Rates:
patacas (P) per US$1 - 8.034 (1991-93)
The pataca is linked to the Hong Kong dollar at the rate of 1.03 patacas per
Hong Kong dollar
Related sites:
Macau Home Page
Macau Hotels
Macau WWW Sites
To the Offshore World home page.
To the Offshore Financial Centres page.