Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 6.1 percent year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of 2017, show data released on Thursday by the city’s Statistics and Census Service. It was the fifth consecutive quarter of growth, but a slowing from the expansion in previous quarters, according to the official data.
The third quarter growth was attributable “to the increases in exports of services and private consumption,” said the statistics bureau. Macau’s GDP in the three months to September 30 stood at nearly MOP100.4 billion (US$12.49 billion).
Exports of gaming services grew by 18.4 percent year-on-year in the three months to September 30. 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 increased 9.4 percent year-on-year during the reporting period.
It had been reported on October 1 by the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, that total casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the third quarter of 2017 had expanded by 21.8 percent year-on-year.
The rate of GDP growth in the third quarter was however lower than the increase recorded in the previous quarter. “The slowdown in economic growth was due to the high base of comparison in the third quarter of 2016 as the economy rebounded,” said the bureau.
In Thursday’s release, the statistics bureau said the rate of growth for the first quarter 2017 was revised up to 11.3 percent, while that for the second quarter was revised down to 10.8 percent.
For the first three quarters of 2017, Macau’s economy grew by 9.3 percent year-on-year in real terms, according to the latest official data.
