Macau’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 9.1 percent in real terms year on year in 2017, after three consecutive years of negative growth, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced Wednesday.
According to a DSEC statement, the economy rose 11.1 percent in the first half of last year, followed by a 7.2 percent rise in the second half. GDP grew 8.0 percent in the fourth quarter.
“Although the whole economy resumed positive growth, domestic demand remained weak and retreated by 2.7 percent in 2017,” the statement noted, adding that gross fixed capital formation dropped 10 percent.
However, external demand rebounded, according to the statement, which pointed out that total exports of services increased 15.4 percent amid growth in the number of visitor arrivals and visitors’ spending.
Exports of gaming services and other tourism services went up by 16.4 percent and 15.4 percent respectively.
In 2017, GDP at current prices amounted to 404.2 billion patacas. Per capita GDP rose 8.6 percent to 622,803 patacas (about US$77,596), one of the world’s highest.
The statement stressed that the relative importance of net exports of goods and services to GDP rose by 5.8 percentage points from 41.6 percent in 2016 to 47.4 percent in 2017.
