Macau 2Q GDP down 39pct as gaming exports slump

August 30, 2022 Macau Earnings & Filings

Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 39.3 percent year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2022, according to data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service. That was a “steeper drop” compared to the 8.9-percent decrease in the previous quarter, said the statistics bureau in a report published on Friday.

The figures showed that exports of services in the three months to June 30 fell by 48.6 percent year-on-year. Of those, exports of gaming services and other tourism services declined by 69.6 percent and 41.4 percent year-on-year respectively.

Gaming services in Macau are included in exports when calculating the city’s GDP. That is in order to reflect spending by tourists in the city’s casinos.

The number of visitor arrivals to Macau fell by 27.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter this year, “dragged down by a decline of 47.0 percent in overnight visitors,” stated the statistics bureau.

The data also showed that domestic demand shrank further: by 12.2 percent year-on-year “owing to a decline in gross fixed capital formation”. The implicit deflator of GDP, which measures the overall changes in prices, went down by 0.9 percent year-on-year.

“Consumer sentiment was further dampened by the economic downturn and [the] local economic activity was affected by the new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in the territory in late June,” noted the statistics office.

Macau’s economy was hurt from mid-June by the most serious Covid-19 outbreak in the city since the advent of the pandemic in early 2020. The latest outbreak coincided with tightened travel restrictions from and into mainland China, Macau’s key source market for tourists.

Macau’s GDP grew by 18.0 percent year-on-year in full-year 2021, following a 54.0 percent contraction in 2020.