MACAO, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) — Macao’s government will make efforts to ensure that the whole community will benefit from the booming economy by enhancing public services and curbing inflation, said Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah in his New Year speech on Monday.

    Extending his New Year greetings to the Macao people, Ho promised that, in the coming years, the government will work on translating Macao’s economic prosperity into various high quality public services, and adopting resilient and comprehensive policies to curb inflation that affects people’s daily lives.

    He said Macao’s economy, centering on the tourism and leisure industries, has taken shape as it was designed and brought prosperity to the SAR in the past year.

    Ho also pointed out that the general public contributed their efforts and ideas in public affairs, prompting the government to enhance its policies; as a result, a harmonious atmosphere was created in the whole community.

    The SAR government will continue to launch reform and open Macao’s market in a bid to develop a more diversified and up-to-date economy, he said.

    Macao, an hour by ferry west of Hong Kong, has a population of 528,000. The island city reported a 2.9-percent unemployment rate for the September-November survey period, the lowest since 1994, according to official statistics.