The IMF said it expects the global economy to expand 3.9 percent this year and next, a forecast that is unchanged from January estimates.
Macau’s GDP increased by 9.1 percent year-on-year in real terms for full year 2017, according to official data. It was the first such annual rise since 2013, helped by increases in exports of services and in investment.
Gaming services in Macau are included in exports when calculating the city’s GDP. That is in order to reflect spending by tourists in the city’s casinos.
In 2017, exports of gaming services went up by 16.4 percent year-on-year in real terms.
Macau’s GDP performance trends in recent years have coincided with casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) trends in the city, highlighting the importance of the gaming sector to the local economy. The gaming business was negatively affected by a slump in GGR that began in June 2014 and extended for two years.
Annual casino GGR in Macau posted its first increase in 2017, after three consecutive years of annual decline: in 2016, GGR fell 3.3 percent; in 2015, it slipped 34.3 percent; and in 2014, GGR declined by 2.6 percent year-on-year.
Macau’s GDP declined by 1.2 percent in 2014; in 2015, it fell 21.6 percent; and in 2016, it slipped 0.9 percent.
Source: GMB / GGR Asia
