The general development of Macau economy

Sources:Sources: websites of Macau Economy Bureau       Http://www.economia.gov.mo     

The Macau economy in the year 2005 experienced a rapid yet steady growth. The total GDP of Macau reached 42.4 billion Macau dollars with a growth by 12.6% and a net growth by 8.4%. The net growth in the first and the second season reached 8.6% and 8.2% respectively. The economy growth was mainly driven by strong private consumption, strong investment on fixed assets and exports on quality services, which greatly diminished the negative impact brought by the cancellation of the textile quota. Together with the growth in economy, the comprehensive consumption price index was also raised slightly by 3.8% in the second season of 2005. The employment situation was also satisfying with a drop to 4.2% in the unemployment rate, which was higher as 5.0% the same time in 2004.

The private consumption was greatly encouraged by the growth of the regional economy. The total private consumption reached as high as 12.3 billion Macau dollars in the first half of 2005 with a growth by 11.7%, among which the local consumption achieved a growth by 17.6%, while the consumption by Macau residents out of the area reached a big increase by 22.0%.

The construction investment on architectures experienced a huge increase due to the big input from private sectors reaching 5.5 billion Macau dollars with a growth of 147.4%, which directly promoted the investment on fixed assets in the first half of the year reaching 8.5 billion Macau dollars with a rocketing growth by 72.4%.

The total value of exports in Macau reached 41.2 billion Macau dollars with a slight growth by 1.9%. The growth on imports was more positive with the total value reaching 23.4 billion Macau dollars with a growth by 5.7%. Driven by the lottery industry, the service exports experienced an increase by 11.6%, among which the growth in lottery business was by 14.2%. The exports on cargo and goods on the contrary witnessed a slump due to the impact of the cancellation of the quota in textile products. The total exports value on cargo and goods only achieved 7.4 billion Macau dollars with a distinct drop by 27.0%, which to a large extent, neutralizing the growth achieved by the lottery business. The products exported were mainly textile and garment products. However, the total value of exports was 5.4 billion Macau dollars with a big drop by 32.9%, even though these goods took up around 72.5% of the products exported, which mainly went to the US and European Union countries. The import goods were still focusing on daily consumption goods, materials and preliminary industrial products from trading partners, such as mainland China, the US, some European Union countries, Hong Kong and Japan. The net profit of the international trading through exports and imports reached 17.8 billion Macau dollars (including goods and service trading), among which the losing value in cargo and goods trading was 9.9 billion Macau dollars, the profit value reached 27.8 billion Macau dollars.

The CEPA between mainland China and Macau was invalid since 2004, it has been playing a positive promoting role in Macau’s economy growth, especially in the tourism industry with a bigger and bigger number of mainland tourists. The number of tourists visiting Macau has been increasing tremendously. Last year the number reached a growth by 40.3%. In the first six months of 2005, the total number of tourists arriving reached as high as 8.923 million person-times with a distinct increase by 15.4%, among which 56% came from the mainland with the total number of 4.99 million person-times and a growth by 11.8% compared to the year before. 2.53 million Mainland tourists were traveling with the short-term tourist visas. The cooperation between Macau and the Pearl River Delta has been promoting the local economy development, this kind of cooperation will be further promoted to the Pan-PRD level.

The pillar industries in Macau include the lottery industry, architecture industry, the financing and insurance industry and the manufacturing industry, among which the lottery industry is the most glorious one. In the first half of 2005, the total income from the lottery industry reached as high as 22.6 billion Macau dollars with a growth by 14.5%. The local economy growth also brought new opportunities for the development of architecture industry. In the first six months of 2005, the new areas under construction reached 138,000 square meters with a huge growth by 46.8%. The number of buildings in sale reached 19,458 with a great increase by 59.6% while the total trading value reached 12.16 billion Macau dollars with a significant growth by 82.6%.

Note1:  if not stated particularly, the comparisons were all made on the contrary with the same period in the year of 2004.