The government’s current reserves amount to MOP505.2 billion (US$62.8 billion), Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac said in the legislature on Tuesday.
During a plenary session, Leong revealed details of a report about the government’s implementation of last year’s budget.
According to Leong, the government’s revenues stood at MOP110.5 billion last year, MOP5.6 billion – or 4.8 percent – less than 2015.
The government’s expenditure rose 2.3 percent – or MOP1.9 billion – to MOP82.6 billion last year, compared to 2015, according to Leong.
Therefore, the government recorded a surplus of MOP27.9 billion last year, Leong said.
Out of this surplus, MOP6.2 billion were allocated to the government’s “autonomous entities”, so that MOP21.7 billion will be put into the public coffers, Leong noted.
According to the Macau Post Daily, the government recorded a surplus of MOP35.4 billion in 2015.
Leong also said that out of the total revenue of MOP110.5 billion last year, income from direct gaming taxation amounted to MOP77.6 billion, a decrease of MOP4.9 billion compared to 2015.
Direct gaming taxes generated 70.2 percent of the government’s total revenue last year.
The budget for 2016 predicted that the government’s revenue would reach MOP100 billion, while the government’s budgeted expenditure was MOP96.5 billion.
According to Leong, until September this year, the government had “basic” reserves of MOP127.9 billion as well as “extraordinary” reserves of MOP355.6 billion. Therefore the total fiscal reserves stood at MOP483.5 billion in September.
According to the law on the government’s financial reserves which has been in force since 2012, the government’s reserves consist of “basic” reserves and “extraordinary” reserves.
Leong said that the surplus of MOP21.7 billion that was part of the public coffers would be added to the “extraordinary” reserves. Therefore, the latest total reserves amount to MOP505.2 billion, according to Leong, or more than half a trillion MOP.
Photo Credit: Antonius Photoscript
