The outgoing government has submitted its 2025 budget bill to the Legislative Assembly (AL), according to which it expects to run a budget surplus of 7.7 billion patacas and proposes to continue with a raft of social benefits and welfare measures including its annual cash handout for permanent and non-permanent residents.
Outgoing Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng will present his government’s work summary for this year as well as its brief proposal for next year’s budget to lawmakers during a plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle next Tuesday
The government’s 2025 budget bill was yesterday released on the website of the legislature, which is yet to schedule a plenary session for the debate and vote of its outline. After the passage of its outline by lawmakers, the budget bill will be reviewed by one of the legislature’s standing committees before it will be resubmitted to another plenary session for its second and final debate and article-by-article vote.
Ho announced in August that for health reasons he was not seeking a second five-year term. His current five-year term will end at midnight on December 19 when he will be succeeded by Sam Hou Fai who will then be sworn in as Macau’s sixth-term and fourth chief executive on December 20, the 25th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland.
Macau’s first and second chief executive, Edmund Ho Hau Wah and Fernando Chui Sai On, both served two consecutive five-year terms, the maximum allowed under the Macau Basic Law.
Govt expects GGR of 240 billion patacas in 2024
According to the 2025 budget bill’s explanatory note, which was also released on the legislature’s website yesterday, the government expects Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) next year to reach 240 billion patacas, because of which its direct gaming tax revenue is expected to amount to 84 billion patacas, i.e., 35 percent of the GGR.
Macau’s gaming operators pay 35 percent of their gross gaming receipts as direct tax to the government, apart from another five percent as levies for a wide range of public causes.
According to the 2025 budget bill, the government expects its revenues to reach 121.09 billion patacas next year, while its expenditure next year is expected to amount to 113.38 billion patacas.
Consequently, according to the bill, the government expects to enjoy a budget surplus of 7.7 billion patacas next year.
The 2024 budget bill presented in 2023 expected the government to run a budget surplus again this year, after the government recorded a budget deficit for four consecutive years from 2020 to 2023. The COVID-19 pandemic affected Macau for three years from early 2020 through 2022, which severely impacted the city’s economy, which started its post-pandemic gradual recovery early last year.
This year’s budget surplus was expected to amount to 1.17 billion patacas.
The 2025 budget bill’s explanatory note says that with Macau’s continuous economic recovery, the government expects next year’s budgeted revenues to be higher than their counterparts this year.
The explanatory note also says that the government expects next year’s number of visitor arrivals to continue rising, but Macau’s tourism was expected to continue to be affected by the ongoing changes in tourists’ consumption habits and patterns.
Moreover, according to the note, the government proposes the continued implementation of its annual cash handout scheme next year.
The amount of this year’s cash handout stood at 10,000 patacas for permanent residents and 6,000 patacas for non-permanent residents.
The 2025 budget bill’s explanatory note does not propose how much each local resident will receive for next year’s “wealth-sharing” handout.
In addition, according to the note, the government proposes to continue injecting money into the Central Provident Fund accounts of eligible permanent residents next year. The note does not mention the amount that each beneficiary will receive.
The government once again injected 7,000 patacas to the Central Provident Fund accounts of every eligible permanent resident earlier this year, after it had not paid the 7,000 patacas into eligible permanent residents’ Central Provident Fund accounts since 2021 because of its deficit budgets due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This file photo taken earlier this year shows a man walking past Government Headquarters on Avenida da Praia Grande in Nam Van. – Photo: Tony Wong
