The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) releases today (31 August) the preliminary balance of payments (BOP) statistics of Macao SAR for the reference year 2022. The BOP, which comprises the current account, the capital account and the financial account, is a statistical statement that summarises external transactions of an economy with the rest of the world.
In 2022, exports of goods decreased by 17.6% year-on-year while imports of goods (f.o.b.) fell by 9.1%. With imports having a higher base than exports, the merchandise trade deficit decreased from MOP86.8 billion in 2021 to MOP84.3 billion in 2022. Concurrently, service exports fell by 31.7%, mainly attributable to falling exports of travel services as affected by the pandemic, whereas service imports rose by 6.4%. Therefore, the services account surplus declined from MOP115.6 billion in 2021 to MOP66.7 billion in 2022.
The primary income account, which reflects cross-border flows of factor income, recorded a net inflow of MOP37.8 billion in 2022; of which, inflows went up from MOP46.6 billion in 2021 to MOP68.6 billion in 2022, whereas outflows fell from MOP48.5 billion in 2021 to MOP30.8 billion in 2022. The secondary income account, which comprises current transfers between Macao residents and non-residents, recorded a net outflow of MOP9.4 billion in 2022, marking a decrease of MOP3.4 billion from the net outflow in 2021.
As the invisible trade surplus and the net inflow of primary income offset the merchandise trade deficit and the net outflow of secondary income, the current account recorded a surplus of MOP10.8 billion in 2022, down by MOP3.3 billion from MOP14.1 billion in 2021.
In the financial account, financial non-reserve assets registered a net inflow of MOP3.7 billion in 2022, representing a decrease of MOP28.5 billion compared to the net inflow in 2021. Of which, direct investment continued to record a net inflow, with the amount increasing to MOP20.7 billion in 2022 from MOP6.5 billion in 2021, mainly resulting from a narrower increase in direct investment assets. Due to the significant deceleration in the growth of external securities investment of Macao residents (excluding Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves) during the year, the net outflow of portfolio investment dropped from MOP49.9 billion in 2021 to MOP27.5 billion in 2022. On the other hand, a net inflow remained in other investment, decreasing from MOP73.5 billion in 2021 to MOP3.7 billion in 2022, as Macao residents’ other external assets fell faster than other external liabilities. Meanwhile, financial derivatives continued to register a net inflow in 2022, totalling MOP6.8 billion.
Reserve assets in the financial account record the net change in Macao’s foreign exchange reserves held by the AMCM. Reserve assets, after price, exchange rate and other adjustments, dropped by MOP8.1 billion, implying that the overall BOP registered a deficit of the same amount in 2022.
Macao’s BOP statistics are compiled in accordance with the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (Sixth Edition) of the International Monetary Fund. The current release incorporates preliminary estimates of key statistics, and a detailed report with revised data will be published in December 2023.