Lawmakers call for further support as many SMEs still face difficulties post-pandemic

Even as Macau’s economy rebounds with the return of tourism, many of the city’s small, medium, and micro enterprises face significant difficulties, lawmaker Nick Lei said before the Legislative Assembly yesterday.

During his pre-agenda speech, the legislator outlined the challenges facing these businesses, particularly in sectors like catering, retail, and convention and exhibition, despite the overall improvement in the city’s economic environment.

“Although Macau’s economy has recovered well with the rapid recovery of tourism after the epidemic, not all industries can fully recover,” Lei said. “Many small, medium, and micro enterprises have actually failed to benefit from the general environment of tourism recovery.”

The lawmaker noted that rising rent and operating costs, combined with insufficient customer traffic, have left these businesses struggling even as their loan repayment obligations from government assistance programs have come due.

“Small, medium, and micro enterprises need to repay more than MOP100,000 per installment, and some even need to repay up to MOP300,000 per installment. The pressure is huge,” he said.

To address this situation, Lei put forward several recommendations for the Macau government including the introduction of new measures to allow small, medium, and micro enterprises facing repayment difficulties to spread out their loan obligations over a longer period, reducing the monthly repayment burden.

He also asked the government to reopen applications for “interest-only” and “adjustment of repayment of various assistance programs” loan products to help enterprises that have missed the initial application window.

“The operating conditions of small, medium, and micro enterprises in health areas are more severe than during the pandemic, and they urgently need the government’s attention,” Lei concluded.

Similarly, legislator Chan Chak Mo shared the same sentiment, urging the government to reserve enough resources in its upcoming budget to combat the persistent difficulties facing the community economy.

“Behind every small business is a family’s livelihood,” Chan emphasized. “The deterioration of the community economy will further affect the lives of grassroots families and disadvantaged groups.”

His speech echoes broader concerns about the unequal nature of Macau’s post-pandemic economic recovery, with leading industries rebounding strongly while smaller enterprises in community-oriented sectors continue to struggle. Howard Tong