City’s fiscal surplus plunges 38.4 pct as at end-August

The city’s fiscal surplus plunged 38.4 per cent year-on-year to MOP17.9 billion (US$2.2 billion) between January and August due to falling government revenues for the period, the latest update on the central account by the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) revealed yesterday.
According to DSF data, the generated fiscal surplus for the first eight months, despite representing a year-on-year decrease, is still nearly five times more than the government’s budgeted MOP3.5 billion for the whole year of 2016.
For the first eight months of the year, the government saw its total revenue drop 13 per cent year-on-year to MOP63.4 billion, as taxes received from the local gaming sector fell 11.8 per cent year-on-year to MOP51.7 billion, reaching 72 per cent of the MOP72 billion the government expects to collect for the whole of 2016.
For the period, the city’s total gaming revenues, including all types of gaming activity such as lotteries and horseracing, dipped 9.1 per cent year-on-year to MOP144.4 billion, according to the official data of the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ).
Meanwhile, the authorities received less revenue from indirect taxes during the eight months, which have fallen 18.9 per cent year-on-year to MOP2.3 billion.
In terms of capital revenue, including sales of capital assets, financial assets and reimbursements, the amount almost halved to MOP428.8 million from MOP889 million during the same period of last year.
For the whole of 2016, the government anticipates its total revenue will amount to MOP92 billion; based on the amount it received for the first eight months, the MSAR has already reached almost 69 per cent of its annual target.
Rising expenses
On the other hand, total public expenditure increased 3.9 per cent year-on-year during the first eight months of 2016, amounting to MOP45.6 billion. Of the total, 94 per cent, or MOP43 billion, was for current expenditure, which saw an increase of 4.7 per cent compared to MOP41 billion one year ago.
The government’s expenditure on investment plan (PIDDA) jumped by 23.5 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months to MOP2.5 billion, only 25 per cent of the MOP11 billion planned for investment in 2016.
The MSAR’s expenses on other investments saw a considerable increase of 54 per cent year-on-year to MOP65.3 million vis-a-vis MOP42.4 million during the same period last year.
Between January and August of this year, under the current expenditure, there were no financial transactions, compared to the MOP685.3 million registered one year ago. Meanwhile, capital transactions saw a considerable fall of 82 per cent to MOP7.4 million from MOP41.7 million last year.
The figures also show that the government’s total expenditure for the period accounted for half of the authorised expenses of MOP88.6 billion for the whole year.
DSF added in the account information that the amount of expenditure transferred to the city’s Social Security Fund was MOP11.3 billion for the first eight months of the year, a 5.8 per cent decrease from MOP12 billion a year ago.