Economy maintains momentum as Q3 GDP rises 8%

The local economy strengthened further in the third quarter, with official data showing an 8% year-on-year expansion driven by resilient tourism activity and steady consumer spending.

Detailed gross domestic product (GDP) figures released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicate that the city’s post-pandemic recovery continued to gain traction, lifting economic output to 92.6% of the level recorded in the same period of 2019.

According to DSEC, real GDP reached MOP103.86 billion in the July–September period. The improvement was underpinned by a strong summer tourism season, which fuelled a 10.5% rise in total service exports.

Visitor arrivals increased 13.6% year-on-year, supporting continued growth across the gaming and non-gaming sectors. Exports of gaming services expanded 14.3%, while other tourism-related services rose 7.4%.

Merchandise trade presented a more mixed picture. Goods exports rebounded by 4.5%, but goods imports contracted 6.5%, suggesting softer demand for external products and a pullback in investment-related purchases.

Domestic demand showed moderate but steady performance. Government final consumption expenditure increased 2.7% in the third quarter, while private consumption rose 0.8%, indicating stable household activity.

However, gross fixed capital formation continued to drag on growth, falling 26.1% amid declines in both private and public construction projects. The sharp drop in investment highlights ongoing caution in large-scale development and infrastructure spending.

For the first three quarters of 2025, local GDP expanded 4.2% year-on-year to MOP301.33 billion.

During this period, service exports rose 3.6%, government consumption advanced 1.8%, and private consumption edged up 1.2%. Gross fixed capital formation declined 9.8%, reinforcing investment as the economy’s weakest component.

The GDP implicit deflator fell 1.1% to 98.8.