Macau (MNA) – The Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac said on Friday that several international “variables” registered in 2018 slowed down the growth of the local Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Yesterday the Macau government revealed that Macau’s GDP growth slowed down to 4.7 per cent in 2018, after having recorded a 9.7 per cent growth in the previous year.
The lower economy growth was mainly due to a slowdown in the second half of 2018, with the GDP growth going from 7.6 per cent in the first half to 2 per cent in the second half.
According to Secretary Leong the lower numbers are also caused by a higher comparison base with growth recorded in 2016/2017 when the economy was rising high, but also addressing the external effects that had a role in the slowdown last year.
“During 2018 there were a lot of variables around the world. Macau is a small place and we are so highly impacted by the outside environment. We can also see that 2019 will also be a year where we will encounter variables that are not easy to predict,” the Secretary said today.
This week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a report in which it indicated that Macau’s economy is highly vulnerable to developments in Mainland China, trade tensions between the United States and China as well as unexpected hikes of the Federal Reserves interest rates, given Macau’s currency peg to Hong Kong dollars, which is in turn pegged to the US dollar.
Te Secretary indicated that a slight growth was expected for the local economy in 2019 but with “no guarantee” that the same variables that impacted last year’s results won’t also have an effect this year.
“The Macau government has to be cautious. We have a lot of contingency plans and we have to monitor what’s happening around the world to make sure of the quality of our growth is benefitting everybody, even Small Medium, enterprises. The resilience of Macau economy is the most important work […] I’m confident on the long-term about Macau’s economy,” the Secretary added.
