Macau, China, Aug. 18, 2026 (Lusa) - The Macau government announced on Tuesday that it was considering introducing incentives to encourage companies and countries, including those from Portuguese-language markets, to issue debt in the territory.
The Chief Executive of Macau, Sam Hou Fai, presented the third Five-Year Economic Development Plan for the semi-autonomous Chinese region, which will remain in force until 2030.
The document promises to «examine the feasibility» of measures to subsidise bond issues to attract «high-quality issuers and international investors».
In November, the government chief emphasised that the value of debt securities issued in Macau had already exceeded 100 billion patacas (€10.5 billion).
However, Sam Hou Fai acknowledged that the majority of the bonds were issued by central or local Chinese authorities, while the city continues to identify financial services between China and Portuguese-language countries as a priority.
The Five-Year Plan advocates the need to «promote the participation of Portuguese-language countries in investment and financing activities» in the Chinese currency, the renminbi, in Macau.
In early July, the governor of the People's Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, announced that debt issued in Macau could be sold on the mainland Chinese market.
The Five-Year Plan promises to «actively explore the creation of interconnection mechanisms with mainland China for financial products, particularly in the area of bonds and funds».
The document also states that the special economic zone in neighbouring Hengqin (Mountain Island) could serve «to channel funds from Macau and abroad into the fund market» of mainland China.
To this end, the plan explains, it is necessary to «make full use» of the Qualified Foreign Limited Partnership (QFLP) mechanism, which allows foreign investors to invest capital in China's financial markets.
The BRICS bloc's bank, the New Development Bank, announced in June its first debt issue in Macau, worth $50 million (€43.9 million).
The Macau branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which organised the debt issue, stated in a press release that the funds will be invested in «sustainable infrastructure projects in Brazil», while keeping further details confidential.
The financial regulator for the Chinese region, the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM), revealed that the debt was «fully subscribed» by the China-Portuguese-language Countries Cooperation and Development Fund.
This fund was established 10 years ago by the China Development Bank, a state-owned bank, and the Macau Industrial and Commercial Development Fund, with a capital of $1 billion (€875 million).
In January, the CDB became the first Chinese state-owned bank to issue debt in Macau, worth 5.5 billion yuan (€710 million), also to finance projects in Portuguese-language countries.
On 1 January 2025, Henrietta Lau Hang Kun, a senior official at the Macau Monetary Authority (AMCM), said that the central banks of Angola and Timor-Leste were interested in issuing public debt in the region to attract investors from mainland China.
In May 2019, Portugal became the first eurozone country to issue debt in the Chinese currency, amounting to 2 million yuan (€256.4 million).
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