Macau saw a strong leap in its Gross National Income (GNI) last year, rising by nearly 51 percent yearly, driven by a 71 percent increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Macau’s GDP in 2023 was approximately $47.06 billion.
According to official statistics published on Thursday, GNI in 2023 reached MOP359.81 billion ($45.05 billion), ‘amid the gradual resumption of local economic activities’.
Looking at GDP, for example, in 4Q23 real term figures saw an 86.4 percent increase, on the back of a rise of 430 percent increase in the export of gaming services and a 130 percent rise in the export of tourism services.
This reflects a total outflow of external factor income (or that earned by non-residents from investments in Macau) of MOP117.53 billion ($14.71 billion), up by 264.7 percent yearly.
Outflows exceeded total inflows during the year, leading to a negative net outflow of MOP9.51 billion ($1.19 billion).
Inflow totaled MOP108.1 billion ($13.53 billion), up by 58.3 percent yearly, due to a near-92 percent rise in other investment income earned by resident enterprises and investors from abroad.
The year 2023 was marked by a strong comeback in gaming stock prices, as the cloud of uncertainty left over from the pandemic, and the adjustment to the new 10-year gaming licenses settled and operators got back into their groove.
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) during the year amounted to nearly MOP183.06 billion ($22.92 billion), a 333.8 percent rise yearly.
This coincided with Macau dropping all pandemic-related travel and quarantine restrictions in January of 2023.
The move created yet another ‘new normal’ for the SAR, with some 28.21 million visitors – a yearly increase of nearly 395 percent, or 71.6 percent of the levels seen in 2019.
During the first 11 months of 2024, visitor arrivals already firmly beat the 2023 figures, hitting 31.88 million, up by 26.2 percent yearly.
