Macao's Economy Grows in 2001 Despite Worldwide Downturn

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 31, 2001

Macao's Economy Grows in 2001 Despite Worldwide Downturn

Macao's economy is estimated to grow 0.5 to 1% in the year 2001, despite the worldwide economic slowdown. In contrast with the continuous negative increases from 1996 to 1999, Macao's GDP has been growing since it returned to the motherland at the end of 1999.
The figure had gone up by 4.6% year on year to 49.8 billion patacas (US$6.2 billion) in the year 2000.

Tourism Reports Best Performance

The best performing sector in the year 2001 was tourism, as the special administrative region (SAR) government has taken various measures to guarantee further increases of visitors to the city.

Macao, whose size is as small as a county seat in China's inland, has witnessed a record of more than 10 million tourist arrivals by December this year.

Joao Manuel Antunes, director of the Government Tourist Office, predicted that the income of the SAR government from tourism taxation will increase by roughly 5 percent as tourists have spent more in Macao.

Spurred by the robust tourism business, the retail sales were also up 3 percent on an annual basis in the third quarter of this year, indicating the upward trend of consumption in Macao. Many shops saw a buying spree at Christmas.

Investment Generated Job Opportunities

This year, Macao invested heavily in a number of large public projects, especially road construction. A sightseeing tower taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris opened to visitors earlier this month, involving an aggregate investment of more than 1.1 billion patacas (137.5 million U.S. dollars).

Both the number and capital volume of newly-established companies in Macao registered double-digit increases on a year-on-year basis in the first three quarters of this year.

The investment generated thousands of job opportunities. Official statistics show that Macao's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.5 percent from September to November, down0.1 percentage points from the corresponding period of last year.

Export Fell Down

The SAR's export situation, however, is not that rosy, according to Francis Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for economy and finance, who attributed it to the weakness of the world economy, especially that of the United States and the European Union, the two largest export markets for Macao.

Macao's exports fell down 9.2 percent year-on-year to 15.2 billion patacas (1.9 billion dollars) in the first 10 months of this year, figures released by the Statistics and Census Services show.

The exports of textile products and clothing, which made up more than 80 percent of the total, dropped by nearly 8 percent in the ten-month period, the statistics show.

Program of 2002

The authorities noted that the SAR's economy will benefit greatly from more investment in the manufacturing sector and the construction of a number of key public facilities including the Fisherman's Wharf in the coming year.

The SAR government has mapped out a plan to amend and improve laws and rules on foreign trade, finance, taxation, labor and the use of foreign funds as part of its efforts to further upgrade investment environment.

As a bridge between China's inland and the outside world, Macao will surely see numerous business opportunities after China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

Macao's Economy to Grow in 2001

Macao's economy is expected to keep growing this year, despite a slower rate, according to a senior official from the Special Administrative Region (SAR) government. Macao's exports have dropped slightly due to the world's economic slowdown, but the imports, the tourism industry and the gambling business have all scored sound performance.

The SAR's economy grew more than four percent in the year 2000, compared with negative increases in the previous four consecutive years.

The SAR government will invest more in the construction of public facilities to generate more job opportunities and stimulate domestic demand in the second half of this year. The continuous reduction of interest rate in the US banks will help Macao increase exports.

Statistics show that the number of tourists to Macao increased 13.2 percent year on year to 4.21 million in the first five months of this year. The Government Tourist Office has announced a series of measures to encourage visitors to stay longer and spend more in Macao.

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