GGRAsia – Gaming sector helps Macau 2Q GDP expand 11.5pct

Gaming sector helps Macau 2Q GDP expand 11.5pct

Aug 28, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 11.5 percent year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2017, according to data released on Friday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service. It was the fourth consecutive quarter of growth, according to the bureau.

The rate of GDP growth was higher than the 10.3-percent rise recorded in the first quarter. The increase took Macau’s GDP in the three months to June 30 to nearly MOP95.06 billion (US$11.78 billion).

Such growth was attributable “to the increases in exports of services and private consumption,” said the statistics bureau.

Exports of gaming services grew by 19.0 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017. Gaming services in Macau are included in exports when calculating the city’s GDP, in order to reflect expenditure by tourists in the city’s casinos.

Exports of other tourism services also went up, by 22.1 percent, according to the latest official data. “Increased visitor arrivals and higher visitors’ spending drove the year-on-year growth rate of total exports of services up from 13.4 percent in the first quarter to 18.8 percent in the second quarter,” said the statistics bureau.

It had been reported on July 1 by the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, that total casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the second quarter of 2017 had expanded by 21.9 percent year-on-year.

Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service in May upgraded Macau’s outlook based on the recovery of the city’s gaming industry. The ratings agency said that Macau continues to extend “its long track record of fiscal surpluses”, adding that it expected the Macau government to “continue to run budget surpluses and accumulate fiscal reserves in coming years”.

The Macau government has recorded total revenue of MOP64.03 billion for the first seven months of 2017, up by 15.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data disclosed on Friday by the city’s Financial Services Bureau. The government collected nearly MOP52.37 billion in direct taxes from gaming in the period, up 15.6 percent year-on-year.

In the seven months to July 31, the government surplus – the amount by which revenue exceeded spending – increased by 50.5 percent year-on-year, to MOP24.34 billion.