Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that economic adjustment continued, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter shrinking by 26.4% year-on-year in real terms, down further from the 24.5% drop in the first quarter. The economic contraction was mainly due to a decline in exports of services, of which exports of gaming services decreased by 40.5% year-on-year and exports of other tourism services dropped by 21.5%. On the other hand, domestic demand remained stable; investment grew by 3.2%, while private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure increased by 2.0% and 5.7% respectively, mitigating the economic downturn; merchandise exports also rose by 25.6%. The implicit deflator of GDP that measures changes in prices increased by 5.0% year-on-year. Private consumption expenditure saw modest growth. Though the unemployment rate edged up by 0.1 percentage point year-on-year to 1.8%, private consumption expenditure grew by 2.0% as the overall employment situation and income remained stable. Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market and abroad increased by 1.3% and 7.2% respectively year-on-year. Government final consumption expenditure expanded by 5.7% year-on-year. Compensation of employees increased by 4.4%, and net purchases of goods and services rose by 8.1%. Total investment continued to grow. Gross fixed capital formation grew by 3.2% year-on-year; private investment expanded by 1.6%, with investment in construction rising by 3.1% on account of the construction of several major tourism and entertainment facilities in progress; meanwhile, investment in equipment decreased by 8.3%. On the other hand, government investment went up by 36.0% year-on-year, of which public construction investment rose by 45.2% while equipment investment shrank by 19.4%. Merchandise trade registered slower growth. Merchandise exports increased by 25.6% year-on-year, while decrease in visitor arrivals and shrinking spending pulled down the growth in merchandise imports to 1.3%. Service trade showed no signs of improvement. Exports of gaming services declined further by 40.5% year-on-year while exports of other tourism services dropped by 21.5%, pushing total exports of services down by 35.9%. Imports of services also declined by 35.5% amid stagnant exports of services. In the first half year of 2015, the economy contracted by 25.4% in real terms. The economy of Macao was affected by multiple unfavourable factors in the first half year; sluggish external demand dragged down exports of tourism and gaming services, with exports of gaming services dropping by 40.1% and exports of other tourism services falling by 19.6%. Nevertheless, domestic demand remained stable; total investment rose by 15.8% while private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure maintained stable growth, reducing the magnitude of economic slowdown.
Is there anything wrong with this page?