The Government was confident of the economic prospects and remained cautious and optimistic, said the Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, said today.

He said the drop in revenue was expected and the Government would adjust its economic prediction accordingly, to around 20 billion Patacas monthly, based on 2014 and early 2015 statistics.

Speaking to reporters before departing for Beijing to attend tomorrow’s opening of the Third Plenary Session of the Twelfth National People’s Congress, Mr Chui said the Government was capable of keeping the approved budget for the fiscal year 2015 and that it would not be necessary to make any amendment on the budget or supplementation.

The Government would strictly follow the Basic Law principle of keeping expenditure within its revenue and budget.

During his four-day stay in Beijing, Mr Chui is scheduled to meet with leading officials of the People’s Bank of China and the China National Tourism Administration. He will also set this year’s action plan for the Office of the Macao Special Administrative Region in Beijing.

When asked, Mr Chui said he had already requested the Secretary for Security and the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture to conduct a report on the city’s tourism capacity and checkpoints management during the Lunar New Year holidays. The report will be submitted to the Central Government.

He said he understood the people’s concern with the increasing number of visitors under the facilitated individual travel scheme introduced in 2003 as a strong show of support by the Central Government to help Macao get out of an economic slump.

The scheme has been in operation for more than 10 years and it was time to review the policy.

The Government would make continuous efforts on economic diversification and tourist resources enrichment as it pressed ahead to transform Macao into a world centre of tourism and leisure and a world tourist destination.

Besides gaming, Macao has a wide variety of non-gaming attractions, such as Eastern and Western cultural elements and world heritage sites, he said.