Macao’s economy is expected to grow by 10 percent year-on-year in 2024, says the president of the Macau Economic Association (MEA), Lao Pun Lap, who made the forecast during an interview with TDM yesterday.
Lao believes that the SAR’s tourism-dependent economy will be stable this year, thanks to the gradual increase in the number of visitors.
However, the MEA stressed that expectations for 2024’s growth rate would need to be kept in check. “Everyone knows that the growth rate was significant last year because the base during the previous year was very low,” he told TDM.
[See more: Macao’s 2023 GDP may have recovered to 80 percent of its pre-Covid level]
He stated that “the growth this year will be much smaller compared to last year,” adding that “an optimistic estimate would be a growth rate reaching a lower-limit two-digit number of around 10 percent.”
During the interview, Lao also cautioned that small and medium-sized businesses are continuing to struggle, as seen by interest rate increases.
As for the gaming sector, the association head said that he expected the gross gaming revenue (GGR) for February to be greater than 20 billion patacas. He also believed the government’s target of 216 billion patacas for 2024 would be met.
