Prisca Tang
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong says that last month’s COVID-19 Delta variant family cluster has negatively impacted the city’s economy, therefore he believed that the government’s income from gross gaming revenue may not reach its target for this year –130 billion patacas.
Lei made the remarks on Wednesday on the sidelines of an event at the Macau Chamber of Commerce in Zape.
Lei noted that last month’s gaming revenue was 4.4 billion patacas, which was a 47 percent decrease month on month. He pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the city’s gaming revenue and, therefore, the government would need to set a new target.
Macau’s casinos pay 35 percent of their gross gaming receipts to the government as direct tax.
According to Lei, the government has already spent 86.4 billion patacas from its reserves in the past two years. Lei added he hoped that in the next few months Macau’s financial situation could improve.
Lei also told reporters that even though the number of visitors dropped due to the COVID-19 prevention and control measures in August, recently the number of visitor arrivals has returned to 24,000 per day, an increase compared to earlier this year’s average daily visitor arrivals. He pointed out that the data indicate that the number of visitors is increasing gradually. Lei said that in order to promote Macau before the National Day Golden Week holiday, the government decided to host a Macau Week in Sichuan before the end of this month.
When asked by reporters whether there will be a new round of government e-consumption benefits, Lei said that the government’s budget for specific COVID-19 benefits stands at 22.5 billion patacas. He noted that the government has already spent about seven billion patacas on this year’s e-consumption benefit plan and the Macau Government Tourism Office’s “Macau Eat Dine and Stay”.
Lei also pointed out that there has been positive feedback from the e-consumption benefit plan, noting that the total consumption has so far reached 3.71 billion patacas, accounting for 62 percent of the plan. He added that when including those who topped up their e-payment methods to use the remainder of their immediate discount grant, the total consumption would be 4.64 billion patacas. He pointed out that in the first month of the e-consumption benefit plan, which was in June, total consumption using e-payment methods reached 1.89 billion patacas, which was almost four times as much as the total e-consumption last year. He concluded this meant that the e-consumption benefit plan has been able to increase Macau’s domestic demand and help the development of the digital economy.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong talks to reporters on the sidelines of an event at the Macau Chamber of Commerce in Zape on Wednesday. Photo GCS
