The city has obtained a score of 94.33 in the Consumer Confidence Index in the second quarter of the year, on a scale of 0 to 200, the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) has announced.
The passing grade for the index is 100.
The university interviewed 829 Macau residents at or above the age of 18 years during the time frame from Jun. 1 to 10.
Despite the below-passing index, the score for the latest quarter has seen a rise of 7.89% or 6.9 index points from the previous quarter. Of the six determinants, five recorded a rise quarter-over-quarter.
It was explained that economic recovery in Macau, as seen in rising employment and casino figures, has improved consumer confidence. The university added that economic diversification should be expedited so as to maintain rising consumer confidence.
The determinant of employment has recorded the highest increase – 18.89% quarter-over-quarter – to 101.9 index points. The second-highest rise was seen in the determinant of stock investment – from 91.06 to 103.85 index points.
As for other determinants, commodity prices scored 76.41 points, local economy 95.92 points, standard of living 98.44 points, as well as residence purchases 89.45 points. The last determinant recorded a fall of 1.71% quarter-over-quarter.
The university pointed out that external economic conditions are still unstable, but national recovery policies are starting to take effect, despite internal economic synergies still being insufficient.
Considering the latest Consumer Confidence Index, president Samuel Tong Kai Chung of the Macau Institute of Management told local media outlet Exmoo that more time should be expected for the city’s economy to recover to 2019 levels.
He also underlined that there will be different pace of recovery across different economic activities.
Despite the city having recovered to 88.8% of the first quarter of 2019 in terms of private consumption, Tong stressed that the latest figure is still behind those of the first quarters of 2021 and 2022.
Explaining this, Tong recapped that during the past three years, many local enterprises and domestic consumers had relied on loans to survive. They will need more time to balance off their accounts, the academic added.
From a macro perspective, the academic sees that the city is still within a recovery and economic restructuring phase.
In addition, Tong pointed out that certain industries are still experiencing bottle necks. For example, airline companies shall need more time to fill positions vacated during the past three years.
