Macau’s economy will continue to expand in 2012, but the growth rates will not be as impressive as seen so far in 2011, said yesterday the secretary for economy and finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen.

Mr Tam, who was presenting his economy and finance policy address for 2012 to the Legislative Assembly, said Macau would post a “positive growth” next year but with “relatively reduced amplitude”.

As usual, he didn’t provide any cut clear estimates on the economic growth rate for next year.

Macau’s gross domestic product for the first half of 2011 expanded by 22.9 percent year-on-year.

Mr Tam predicted the gaming and tourism sectors “should continue growing in a stable way” in 2012.

He also said the government’s imposed 3 percent live gaming table cap growth from 2013-2023 is “an average annual growth figure”, making understandable the figure is not a hard annual cap.

Overall, the cap allows for 2,000 new gaming tables to be introduced between 2013 and 2023, Mr Tam said.