MACAO, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The gross domestic product (GDP) of Macao shrank 2.5 percent year-on-year in real terms in the first half year of 2019, the special administrative region's statistic department said here on Friday.
The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that in terms of the major expenditure components of GDP, private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure rose 2.2 percent and 5.0 percent respectively year-on-year.
However, investment dropped 28.8 percent in the first half year. Exports of goods fell 12.5 percent while imports of goods increased 0.6 percent. Exports of services went up 0.2 percent, with exports of gaming services falling 0.7 percent.
The DSEC report added that imports of services also went down 17.5 percent in the first half year.
The economy of Macao in the second quarter of 2019 contracted 1.8 percent year-on-year in real terms, representing a smaller decrease compared to the drop in the first quarter at 3.2 percent.
The economic downturn was mainly due to a year-on-year decline in gross fixed capital formation, the report added.
External demand continued to slow down in the second quarter, as exports of gaming services fell 0.8 percent and exports of goods slid 24.4 percent. Domestic demand went down 6.1 percent year-on-year, dragged down a 25.0-percent drop in gross fixed capital formation.
Meanwhile, private consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure rose 2.2 percent and 5.7 percent respectively, offsetting part of the decrease resulting from the economic slowdown.
Imports of goods and services reduced 0.8 percent and 13.7 percent respectively. The implicit deflator of GDP, which measures the overall changes in prices, increased 2.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019.
Consumer sentiments remained cautious amid uncertain external economic environment. Private consumption expenditure growth held steady from the previous quarter, at 2.2 percent year-on-year.
Household final consumption expenditure in the domestic market and abroad showed respective increases of 2.2 percent and 4.0 percent in the second quarter.
