Macao’s six gaming concessionaires collectively paid more than 59.5 billion patacas in taxes during the first 11 months of 2023, according to figures recently published by the Financial Services Bureau. The sum is more than eight billion patacas in excess of what the government had accounted for in its 2023 budget.
The revenue provided a welcome boost to Macao’s official coffers, which recorded a whopping 12.3 billion patacas surplus for the period.
Total current revenue between January and December was 77.2 billion patacas, about 12 billion patacas more than was forecast. Capital revenue, however, came in 25.4 billion patacas lower than expected. That meant the government’s total revenue between January and November 2023 was 87.6 billion patacas, not the 101.4 billion forecast.
[See more: The first balanced budget since the pandemic began has the go ahead]
A significant reduction in government spending more than offset the shortfall, however. Total expenditure came in at a cumulative 75.3 billion for November, 26 billion patacas less than was forecast.
Cutbacks were recorded across the board. Just 60 percent of the money budgeted for expenditure on the provision of public utility services was spent, while only 27 percent of what had been set aside for the government’s retirement and pension regime got used up.
According to 2024’s official budget, this year’s surplus is expected to run to 1.17 billion patacas, with revenue reaching 107.11 billion patacas.
