Economy

Tai Kin Ip: 16 months — the shortest-serving Secretary for Economy and Finance in MSAR history

Tai Kin Ip

Served as Secretary for Economy and Finance of the 6th-term Macao SAR Government from 20 December 2024 to 16 April 2026 — 16 months, the shortest tenure in that portfolio since the SAR was established; removed by State Council decree on Sam Hou Fai's recommendation, citing "personal reasons". Joined the Macao Economic Services (DSE) in 1995 and spent his entire 29-year career to 2024 inside the bureau, rising from senior technician to head of research, deputy director, and director (April 2016 to December 2024, including the 2021 reorganisation into the Economic and Technological Development Bureau / DSEDT); concurrently chaired the Industrial and Commercial Development Fund. As Secretary, he was the technical architect of the 2022 gaming-concession tender outcomes, drove the first review of concessionaires' non-gaming investment obligations (March 2025), oversaw the satellite-casino closures and the 5,600+ employee redeployment, and from November 2025 concurrently led the Hengqin Cooperation Zone Executive Committee. In February 2026 he announced the MOP 11 billion seed (targeting MOP 20 billion) Macao Government Industrial Guidance Fund. Bachelor of Economics from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa; Master in Government Studies from the University of Saint Joseph.