Macau's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 15.7 percent year-on-year in real terms to 204.3 billion patacas in the first half of this year, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) has announced in a statement today.
Economic output returned to 86.2 percent of the level in the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, with GDP surpassing the 200 billion patacas mark again for the first time since the first half of 2019. In the first six months of this year, GDP stood at 204.3 billion patacas, while it amounted to 220.1 billion patacas in the same period of 2019.
Exports of services and domestic demand (including private consumption expenditure, government final consumption expenditure and investment) showed respective growth of 17.6 percent and 2.8 percent year-on-year.
In the first six months of the year, exports of services continued to thrive thanks to the increases in the number of visitor arrivals and tourism activities. Exports of gaming services and exports of other tourism services grew by 39.9 percent and 2.8 percent year-on-year respectively, and exceeded their corresponding levels in the same period in 2019 by over 20 percent, according to the DSEC statement. On the other hand, imports of services decreased by 6.2 percent. Concerning extrernal merchandise trade, exports and imports of goods dropped by 15.9 percent and 3.3 percent year-on-year respectively.
Private consumption expenditure increased by 7.8 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, driven by a rise in residents' income amid the improving local economy and labour market. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market and abroad grew by 7.0 percent and 13.5 percent respectively. Meanwhile, government final consumption expenditure dropped by 14.0 percent year-on-year in the first half year following the cessation of the government's livelihood subsidy scheme. Net purchases of goods and services fell by 31.3 percent while compensation of employees went up by 1.0 percent.
In the six months, gross fixed capital formation rose by 9.8 percent year-on-year, as enterprises continued to step up their investments in Macau amid an improving business environment. Private equipment investment recorded a growth of 29.8 percent year-on-year; besides, private construction investment went up by 14.7 percent owing to a continued rise in the investments in residential building construction and large-scale construction projects of integrated resort enterprises. Meanwhile, government equipment investment surged by 69.9 percent year-on-year, whereas public construction investment dipped by 10.8 percent due to the completion of a number of large public works.
GDP grows 6.9 pct in Q2
Analysed by quarter, GDP expanded by 6.9 percent year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter due to a relatively high base of comparison in the same quarter last year; economic output recovered to 85.2 percent of its size in the same quarter of pre-pandemic 2019. Exports of services, the key area of economic growth, increased by 6.1 percent year-on-year, with exports of gaming services rising by 22.6 percent; however, exports of other tourism services fell by 9.5 percent, mainly due to a high comparison base resulting from the release of the pent-up demand of visitors amid the gradual relaxation of travel policies during the same period of the previous year. Meanwhile, domestic demand rose by 2.2 percent year-on-year, with private consumption expenditure and gross fixed capital formation expanding by 4.8 percent and 6.7 percent respectively; in contrast, government final consumption expenditure decreased by 7.3 percent. The implicit deflator of GDP, which measures the overall changes in prices, went up by 0.9 percent year-on-year to 106.3.
