स्मृतिका पन्नाहरु

Macau-based e-payment platform mPay is set to expand beyond Macau to over 40 countries in partnership with Alipay+. The expansion is expected to take place between September and December 2023. The partnership will cover countries such as the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Qatar, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States of America, as well as the 24 countries that make up the European Economic Area. 
        However, the cross-border payment function will only be available to mPay users who are Macau residents and have acquired a user status on the mobile app of JR (Junior), Intermediate-3A, and Advanced-3B levels. Payments abroad will be completed by switching the Alipay+ overseas payment code on mPay when seeing the Alipay+ logo at merchants in these countries. The Chairman and CEO of Macau Pass, which owns mPay, Sun Ho, said that the demand for electronic payments, especially cross-border mobile payments, is growing rapidly. He added that mPay and Alipay+ aim to create a smart e-wallet that allows Macau residents to travel globally and solve the issues they encounter with payment while traveling overseas. The CEO also noted that international payment services that provide consumers with a fine global travel consumption experience bring more cross-border businesses and tourism growth opportunities for global merchants.
He said that mPay will continue to expand electronic payment, lifestyle services, and marketing technology services to develop more open and diversified intelligent payment business scenarios. The acquisition of Macau Pass by AGTech Holdings in March 2022 for HKD778 million has led to several changes in the e-payment platform. The platform now benefits from a wider range of services provided through the Alipay system. With the optimization of the entry-exit management policy of the Macau SAR government, the increase in searches for outbound flights and accommodation in overseas countries indicates that the outbound travel demand of Macau residents continues to recover in 2023, and cross-border consumption is expected to surge.

According to the present forecast track, Tropical cyclone “Saola” will continue to move west-north-westward towards the eastern Guangdong coastal area, approaching the Pearl River Estuary thereafter. Though the circulation of “Saola” is small, it moved slightly faster than expected, and will enter within 200 km from Macao on 1st Sept afternoon.

By then, winds will start strengthening significantly and thus the possibility of issuing the Tropical cyclone signal no.8 is high between 13:00 and 15:00 on the 1st Sept. Moreover, affecting by the strong rainband near the centre of “Saola”, there will be showers and thunderstorms in the next few days, heavy at times between the 2nd and the 3rd of Sept. Under the influence of astronomical tide, flooding of 0.5 meters or below will occur within inner-harbour area during daytime on the 1st Sept. In addition to the joint effect of storm surge, more significant flooding will occur in low-lying areas during daytime on the 2nd Sept.

Since “Saola” will be very close to the Pearl River Estuary, it will possess huge impact to Macao with chances of flooding level between 1-1.5 meters occurring in low-lying areas. Therefore, the possibility of issuing the orange storm surge warning is raised to relatively high. If “Saola” does make a direct hit to the Pearl River Estuary, SMG might need to issue even higher Tropical cyclone signals as well as the redstorm surge warning or above.The public is advised to pay attention to the latest weather information and take precautions against strong winds and flooding in advance. source: https://www.gov.mo/en/entity-page/entity-956/