Mainland-Macao Trade Up 2 Pct in First Quarter of 2008

Trade between China's mainland and the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) reached 630 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2008, a 2-percent rise year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

The mainland's exports to Macao totaled 570 million U.S. dollars, up 2.8 percent, while imports from Macao fell 4.3 percent to 60 million U.S. dollars, the ministry said.

The mainland attracted direct investment from the MSAR in 99 projects in the first three months, down 44.7 percent, and the actual use of Macao direct investment reached 200 million U.S. dollars, up 18.6 percent year-on-year.

As of the end of March 2008, direct investment of the MSAR in the mainland totaled 7.86 billion U.S. dollars in 11,652 projects. These figures are cumulative since 1978, the year of the opening up of trade between the mainland and Macao.

The actual use of the MSAR's direct investment in the mainland accounted for 1 percent of all actually used direct investment from outside the Chinese mainland.

Source: CRIEnglish