Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.6 percent year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter this year, the slowest rate in more than two years. GDP performance was impacted by a slowdown in the growth of “exports of gaming services”, show the latest data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service, published on Wednesday.
Macau gaming services are counted as exports when calculating the city’s GDP, as most of the consumers of such services are inbound tourists.
In its latest release, the statistics service stated that such exports of gaming services rose by 5.8 percent year-on-year in real terms during the third quarter, a sharp slowdown from the previous quarter. In the April to June period, exports of gaming services grew by 13.7 percent, according to official data.
“The economy grew at a slower pace, mainly due to a continuous decline in construction investment and a notable slowdown in growth of exports of services,” the statistics bureau said in Wednesday’s release.
Overall casino gross gaming revenue in Macau was MOP73.84 billion (US$9.15 billion) in the third quarter, up by 10.2 percent in year-on-year terms. The figure however was up just 0.2 percent over the previous quarter.
Macau’s GDP increased by 5.6 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2018.
Macau’s GDP performance trend in recent years has roughly coincided with the performance of casino GGR in the city, highlighting the importance of the gaming sector to the local economy.
