Macao’s gross domestic product (GDP) officially grew by 8.8 percent last year, when compared with 2023, according to the Statistics and Census Service (known by its Portuguese initials DSEC). It came in at 403.3 billion patacas (US$50.2 billion) for the year.
The sum represents 86.4 percent of 2019’s economic output, which was the last full-year result before Covid-19 pandemic restrictions caused the economy to free fall.
Per-capita GDP, meanwhile, stood at 587,922 patacas (US$73,236) in 2024, up by 7.6 percent year-on-year.
[See more: Macao’s gross domestic product is expected to grow by 5 percent in 2025]
Overall service exports grew by 9.2 percent year-on-year, driven by a 23.8 percent increase in visitor arrivals. While exports of gambling services grew by 21.8 percent, exports of other tourism services shrank by 6.1 percent “owing to a relatively high comparison base in the previous year,” DSEC said. The latter figure was still 13 percent higher than it was in 2019.
Merchandise trade saw exports and imports of goods decrease by 14.5 percent and 7.6 percent year-on-year, respectively.
Domestic demand grew by 2.3 percent. The implicit deflator of GDP, which measures the overall changes in prices, went up by 0.4 percent year-on-year, to 105.
[See more: Macao’s gross gaming revenue grew by 7 percent year-on-year in February]
Private consumption grew by 4.9 percent year-on-year in 2024, which DSEC attributed to “the continued recovery of various local economic activities, coupled with a stable job market.” Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market rose by just 3.8 percent, significantly less than expenditure outside Macao’s borders – which grew by 11.1 percent.
Government final consumption expenditure decreased by 5.1 percent year-on-year due to the cessation of the Livelihood Subsidy Scheme, said the DSEC. Net purchases of goods and services dropped by 11.2 percent while compensation of employees rose by 0.2 percent. Public construction investment fell by 10 percent, “due to the completion of some large-scale public works projects.”
Enterprises continued to “step up their investment in Macao” during 2024, resulting in a 4.6 percent increase in gross fixed capital formation when compared with 2023, the DSEC said.
