Outgoing Chief Executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng made what was likely to be his final speech at the Legislative assembly on Tuesday, in which he highlighted challenges faced by Macao during the Covid-19 pandemic and said serving as the SAR’s fifth-term CE was “a great honour,” multiple local media outlets reported.
The CE, who hands over Macao’s leadership to CE-designate Sam Hou Fai on 20 December, acknowledged the pandemic’s toll on Macao’s economy and society, describing it as “the most accentuated impact since Macao’s return to the motherland.” He credited the “rigorous collaboration of the entire population” for the SAR’s ability to overcome severe challenges.
At yesterday’s meeting, Ho listed the work his government had completed during his five-years in office. This included infrastructural developments like the Macau Bridge, enhanced public healthcare capacity (thanks to the city’s new hospital) and the spending of more than 24.6 billion patacas in welfare measures and incentives in 2024 alone.
Ho also presented the government’s 2025 budget proposal, which included continuing the SAR’s Wealth Partaking Scheme along with a number of other existing tax relief measures and subsidies for eligible residents.
[See more: Macao’s GDP sees an 11.5 percent rise in the first three quarters]
Additional measures were recommended, too. These included tax deductions to support research and development projects; profit tax waivers for local enterprises earning revenue from Portuguese-speaking countries; stamp duty waivers for tickets to assorted events in Macao; and an auction stamp duty waiver.
Ho said that continuing existing tax cuts, waivers and rebates – combined with the new measures – was expected to result in net negative government tax revenue of 4.833 billion patacas for 2025. However, the budget is expected to create an overall surplus of 7.7 billion patacas.
The proposed budget predicted that next year’s gaming revenue would come in at 240 billion patacas, an 11 percent rise on this year’s conservative forecast of 216 billion patacas.
Ho said that the city’s ‘1+4’ economic diversification scheme was now largely in place, and emphasised that the casino industry’s contributions towards diversification would be an increasingly important driver of Macao’s long-term growth – as was established in 2022’s concession negotiations.
