Macau gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of this year grew by 9.2 percent year-on-year in real terms, 1.2 percentage points higher than the 8.0 percent rise in the previous quarter, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) said Tuesday.
According to a DSEC statement, economic growth in the first quarter was mainly driven by exports of services and private consumption.
External demand expanded further, which pushed up total exports of services by 16 percent year-on-year, with exports of gaming services and other tourism services growing by 16.5 percent and 19.6 percent respectively. Exports of goods went up by 12.8 percent.
Domestic demand recovered, with private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure rising by 4.8 percent and 2.2 percent respectively year-on-year. Investment declined by 1.9 percent. The implicit deflator of GDP, which measures the overall changes in prices, went up by 3.4 percent year-on-year.
Due to an increase in government investment, gross fixed capital formation improved, with the year-on-year decline tapering off substantially from 14.1 percent in the previous quarter to 1.9 percent in the first quarter.
Government investment in fixed assets surged by 132.5 percent, “underpinned by the increased investment in the Macau border checkpoint facilities for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge,” the statement said.
