Gross domestic product slides in third quarter

Macau reported its first year-on-year economic contraction since 2009 in the third quarter. Gross domestic product fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) announced.
The statistics bureau says that the economic downturn in Q3 was triggered by “a substantial fallback in exports of services, which was marked by a continuous decline in exports of gaming services.”
Bloomberg News associates the GDP contraction with Chinese president Xi Jinping’s campaign to tackle corruption and lavish government spending. Xi’s austerity campaign has deterred high-stakes gamblers from ostentatious displays of wealth in Macau.
According to the statistical data released on Friday, despite the GDP shrinking, private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure increased by 7.2 pct and 8.1 pct respectively.
On a positive note, DSEC acknowledges that, “expanding investment lessened magnitude of economic contraction.” DSEC also indicated that the construction of major tourism and gaming facilities is underway, bringing about a 41.5 pct growth in private investment, with investment in construction and equipment rising by 43.8 pct and 28.9 pct respectively. DSEC added that government investment increased by 5 pct, of which public construction investment expanded by 15 pct, but equipment investment shrank by 34 pct.