Macau's economy continued to recover in the second quarter of this year, driven by the thriving tourism and gaming sectors, resulting in a 117.5 percent year-on-year growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in real terms, marking the highest quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2021, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) has announced today.
According to a DSEC statement, exports of services surged by 211.9 percent year-on-year, underpinned by the growth in exports of gaming services (+463.6 percent) and other tourism services (+157.5 percent). Imports of services and goods rose by 49.8 percent and 0.1 percent respectively, whereas exports of goods dropped by 32.8 percent. Domestic demand grew by 18.4 percent year-on-year, attributable to an increase of 47.8 percent in gross fixed capital formation. The implicit deflator of GDP, which measures the overall changes in prices, went up by 0.9 percent year-on-year.
For the first half of this year, GDP grew by 71.5 percent year-on-year in real terms. Macau's overall economic output returned to 71.0 percent of its level in the same period of pre-pandemic 2019, the statement pointed out.
The improving economic sentiment and employment environment facilitated an increase in private consumption activities, the statement said. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market rose by 9.7 percent year-on-year, while household final consumption expenditure abroad jumped by 69.2 percent. Overall private consumption went up by 15.1 percent year-on-year.
Government final consumption expenditure rose by 3.0 percent year-on-year, net purchases of goods and services increased by 5.2 percent and compensation of employees rose by 1.6 percent.
Gross fixed capital formation expanded by 47.8 percent year-on-year, of which construction investment grew by 70.4 percent while equipment investment dropped by 5.3 percent. "With the ongoing construction of public housing and the fourth Macau-Taipa bridge, public construction investment went up by 47.4 percent and public equipment investment rose by 70.7 percent year-on-year," the statement said.
In terms of private investment, construction investment grew by 86.6 percent year-on-year thanks to a significant increase in investments by gaming enterprises. However, equipment investment fell by 12.9 percent.
With respect to external merchandise trade, rising demand drove up the net import value of goods by 22.3 percent year-on-year.
Macau's number of visitor arrivals in the second quarter surged by 321.7 percent year-on-year to 6.7 million, corresponding to 67.5 percent of the visitor number in the same quarter of 2019. Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 case in January 2020.
"With a substantial rebound in visitors, exports of gaming services and exports of other tourism services leapt by 463.6 percent and 157.5 percent respectively year-on-year in the second quarter. In addition, imports of services grew by 49.8 percent due to an increase in residents’ outbound travel activities, the statement said.
According to DSEC data, expenditure-based GDP at current prices in the second quarter amounted to 83.78 billion patacas.
Jobless rate falls to 2.6 pct
Meanwhile, the bureau said in a separate statement that both Macau's general unemployment rate (2.6 percent) and the unemployment rate of local residents (3.3 percent) for May-July 2023 decreased by 0.2 percentage points from the previous survey period (April - June 2023). The general unemployment rate comprises local residents and non-resident workers (imported labour).
Besides, the underemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 1.7%.
