Construction sector fell by 20 percent last year

The total receipts for the construction sector in Macau have registered a drop of 18.8 percent year-on- year in 2017, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) informed in a statement.
According to the latest survey on the construction sector, the registered receipts last year amounted to MOP65.91 billion.
Also decreasing was the value of construction work, which shrank by 19.3 percent to MOP64.02 billion in the same period.
The drops in the construction sector are attributed to the fact that in 2016, the sector was experiencing high activity levels, with the completion of several hotels and entertainment facilities, a situation which did not occur in 2017, and hence registered a relatively low number of construction projects of such scale.
At the same time and backing up the drop in receipts, Intermediate Consumption and Labor Costs have also dropped by 17.9 percent and 17.3 percent respectively, amounting to MOP50.63 billion and MOP9.97 billion. This led to the

Gross surplus of the sector to drop 28.6 percent to MOP5.31 billion.

In this sense, this sector registered a drop by 21.6 percent in relation to the sectorial contribution for the local economy.

According to DSEC’s survey, in 2017 there were a total of 3,061 establishments operating in the construction sector, which was an increase of 141 establishments when compared to 2016.
Although there were more establishments operating, there was a shortage in the number of workers, with a decrease of 3,356 to a total of 41,960.

Simple renovation projects registered the involvement of more people, with approximately 155 projects and 2,141 people.

The survey also found that there were 1,538 construction projects with permits being carried out in 2017, up by 106 year-on-year. Among these, the ones that registered the most significant hike where the private projects that rose by 76 to 966. Although in terms of value of construction work, there was a decrease by almost 24 percent to MOP49.02 billion.