The Federal General Commercial Association of Macau Small and Medium Enterprises said in a statement yesterday that according to its recent survey, 10 percent of the city’s small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expect to shut up shop for good soon.
According to the statement, the survey on “local SMEs prospects on future development” was conducted in February and last month. The statement noted that the respondents said that, on a scale from 0 to 100, most of the SMEs’ confidence levels on their economic prospects stand at just 30, which has plummeted compared to the results from last year.
The statement said that over 85 percent of the SMEs said that their sales have been halved since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, while 44 percent believed that the government’s planned curbs on the city’s satellite casinos (a casino that is owned by one of Macau’s six gaming concessionaires or sub-concessionaires but run by a third party on its behalf), could possibly lead to local small businesses closing down. The statement noted that 31.5 percent of the SMEs would try to ease their financial pressure by laying off employees or giving them unpaid leave.
The findings also showed that 32.1 percent of the respondents thought that the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin would help SMEs develop, while 53.4 percent are interested in expanding their business in Hengqin. The statement said that, however, only 5.8-7.7 percent of the SMEs are actually moving to Hengqin.
The statement pointed out that as the COVID-19 pandemic has been around for more than two years, the low number of overseas and Hong Kong visitors, and the unsteady number of visitor arrivals from the mainland could not generate sufficient profit to cover SMEs’ operation costs, such as rent, human resources and raw materials. The statement underlined that many SMEs are thinking about “stepping outside” Macau, however, they believed that without the government’s assistance, it would be difficult to achieve.
