The city’s fiscal surplus amounted to MOP16.4 billion (US$2.05 billion) as at the end of May, a drop of 35.8 per cent year-on-year, due to the continuous decline in the government’s gaming tax revenues, according to the latest updates of the central account by the Financial Services Bureau (DSF). For the first five months of the year, the government raked in some MOP40 billion in revenue, down 14.3 per cent year-on-year compared to MOP46.7 billion one year ago. The plunge is due to the government’s declining tax revenues from the gaming sector, which accounted for nearly 85 per cent of the total. Gaming tax revenue dropped 14.1 per cent year-on-year to MOP33 billion for the five months. Other indirect taxes received by the government also fell by 25.4 per cent year-on-year to MOP1.31 billion. In addition, total capital revenues were halved to MOP262.3 million as at the end of May, compared to MOP549.2 million one year ago. In particular, a year-on-year decrease of 94.6 per cent was registered in the sale of capital assets, which amounted to MOP23.7 million. For the whole of this fiscal year, the government expects its total revenue will reach MOP92 billion, which suggests that it has already fulfilled 43.4 per cent of its target. Expenditure On the other hand, the total expenditure of the government totalled MOP23.6 billion, representing an increase of 11.6 per cent compared to MOP21.1 billion one year ago. Nevertheless, the amount that the government has spent only accounts for some 26.6 per cent of its budgeted MOP88.6 billion for the whole of this year. The majority of the expenditure, MOP22.5 billion, was used on current expenditure, while capital expenditure only accounted for some MOP1.05 billion – of which MOP1.03 billion was spent by the Investment Plan (PIDDA).
—
