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Angola interested in issuing public debt in Macau, says regulator

Macau's financial regulator said Tuesday that the central banks of Angola and East Timor are interested in issuing public debt in the semi-autonomous Chinese region to attract investors from mainland China.

:  Angola Image Bank
Angola Image Bank  

Henrietta Lau Hang Kun, a board member of the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM), said the institution has been trying to promote the territory as "a financial services platform for Portuguese-speaking countries".

"For now, we are still negotiating with Portuguese-speaking countries" so that the debt issuance "passes here, through Macau, to the mainland [China] market," added Henrietta Lau.

The leader recalled that, in September, the city hosted the second Conference of Central Bank Governors and Financial Officers between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.

"We also spoke with the [National] Bank of Angola and the [Central] Bank of Timor-Leste. They are all interested (..). But they still have to study," explained Lau.

"I still have to discuss with them to see what opportunities we have here. So I think they are interested," added the AMCM director.

Lau was speaking on the sidelines of an official launch ceremony for a direct link between the debt markets of Macau and the neighboring semi-autonomous Chinese region of Hong Kong.

"Portuguese-speaking countries, investors from these countries, can invest through this channel in Macau," said the leader.

During the ceremony, the AMCM president also said that the initiative will "offer international investors, including those from Portuguese-speaking countries, a practical channel that facilitates their participation in the Hong Kong and Macau bond markets."

In a speech, Benjamin Chan Sau San argued that the connection will "strengthen Macau's role as a financial services platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries".

International investors already present in the Hong Kong market will be able to carry out delivery and settlement, as well as hold bonds in the Macau central securities depository, the deputy director-general of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority highlighted at the ceremony.

The initiative allows the two regions to "develop their own advantages" and attract "more issuers, investors and financial institutions," said Howard Lee Tat Chi.

The Macau government has advocated investing in the financial sector to diversify the economy, which is heavily dependent on casinos, but it still has no date for the creation of an offshore stock exchange, known in renminbi.

Authorities have linked the possible creation of a stock exchange to the role that Macau has assumed as a platform for commercial and financial services between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

In May 2019, Portugal became the first eurozone country to issue debt in the Chinese currency, worth two million renminbi (263.5 million euros).

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