The Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday unanimously passed the outline of the government’s 2025 budget amendment bill, proposing a lower budgeted revenue and an increased budgeted expenditure compared to the budget’s original version.
The government proposes a lower budgeted revenue as it has lowered its estimation of this year’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) to 228 billion patacas, or a monthly average of 19 billion patacas, from the 240 billion patacas initially forecast, or a monthly average of 20 billion patacas.
The government proposes an increased budgeted expenditure with the aim of enabling the implementation of its policies and measures laid out by its 2025 Policy Address.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Anton Tai Kin Ip introduced the outline of the 2025 budget amendment bill during a plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle yesterday.
After yesterday’s passage of its outline, the bill will be passed to one of the legislature’s standing committees for an article-by-article review, after which it will be resubmitted to another plenary session for its second and final debate and article-by-article vote, only after which the amended version of the government’s 2025 budget can take legal effect.
During yesterday’s plenary session, Tai noted that Macau’s total GGR in the first five months of this year amounted to 97.707 billion patacas, equivalent to 19.541 billion patacas per month on average, below the monthly average of 20 billion patacas that the government was aiming for Macau to reach this year.
Moreover, Tai said that given the unpredictable changes in the international political and economic landscape since early this year, Macau’s economic prospects are currently being affected by increased uncertainty in the external environment, because of which, he said, the local economy, which is primarily driven by the export of services, may face a relatively significant level of adverse impacts this year.
Tai noted that the 2025 budget amendment bill proposes a lower budgeted revenue as the government has lowered its estimation of this year’s GGR.
Tai also noted that the government proposes an increased budgeted expenditure as it plans to increase its spending on allowances and subsidies for children, senior citizens and those in vulnerable groups as well as on scientific and technological research and development projects while also planning to make phased payments to the construction of the University of Macau’s (UM) new campus in Hengqin.
Tai said that the government now expects, in the amended 2025 budget bill, its revenues to reach 116.53 billion patacas in 2025, 4.56 billion patacas lower than the initially expected 121.09 billion patacas, while its expenditure is now expected to amount to 116.24 billion patacas, 2.86 billion patacas higher than the initially budgeted 113.38 billion patacas.
Consequently, Tai said, the government now expects to have a budget surplus of 287 million patacas, a decrease of 7.42 billion patacas from the initially expected 7.7 billion patacas.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Anton Tai Kin Ip addresses yesterday’s plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle. – Photo: GCS
