Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 33.4% year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of 2022 owing to the previous wave of the pandemic that started on 18 June. In view of a 50.8% decline in number of visitor arrivals amid the pandemic, exports of services fell by 46.7% year-on-year, of which exports of gaming services and exports of other tourism services tumbled by 72.5% and 45.9% respectively. Domestic demand slid further by 14.4% year-on-year, dragged down by a drop in gross fixed capital formation and private consumption expenditure. The implicit deflator of GDP, which measures the overall changes in prices, went down by 1.1% year-on-year.
With the local economic activity being affected by the “relatively static” control measures implemented in July, household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market and abroad dropped by 13.3% and 12.2% year-on-year respectively. The overall private consumption expenditure fell by 13.3% year-on-year.
Government final consumption expenditure rose by 5.7% year-on-year, attributable to an increase in the expenditure of the SAR Government on healthcare subsidy scheme and pandemic prevention. Net purchases of goods and services grew by 10.2% while compensation of employees decreased by 0.1%.
Gross fixed capital formation decreased by 34.3% year-on-year, of which construction investment and equipment investment dropped by 38.2% and 18.8% respectively. As regards public investment, public construction investment went up by 19.6%, ascribable to increased investment in construction of public housing, the fourth Macao-Taipa bridge and the Islands District Medical Complex; however, equipment investment reduced by 44.4%. Regarding private investment, construction investment declined by 56.4% year-on-year owing to reduced investment by gaming enterprises; besides, equipment investment fell by 14.0%.
Merchandise trade was impacted amid the pandemic, with imports and exports of goods dropping by 27.9% and 43.0% year-on-year respectively.
For the first three quarters of 2022, GDP declined by 27.8% in real terms. In terms of the major components of GDP, private consumption expenditure dropped by 7.8% while government final consumption expenditure went down by 1.1%. Gross fixed capital formation showed a decrease of 19.7%. Exports and imports of goods fell by 19.9% and 10.2% respectively. Exports of services dipped by 34.3%, of which exports of gaming services slid by 54.5%. Imports of services recorded a fall of 5.2%.