The city saw the gaming industry’s contribution to the total Gross Value Added (GVA) of the Special Administrative Region plunge 4.9 percentage points in 2014, accounting for 59.1 per cent of the total, according to the 2014 Industrial Structure report released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). In 2014, the GVA of all economic activities at producers’ prices dropped 2.8 per cent year-on-year in real terms following that of Gaming & Junket activities registering a year-on-year decline of 8.4 per cent due to decreased gross gaming receipts. The drop in the GVA of the gaming industry led the GVA of the whole tertiary sector, also known as the service sector, to decrease by 4.2 per cent in real terms compared to 2013. The relative importance of the sector thus declined from 96.3 per cent in 2013 to 94.8 per cent of the total GVA in 2014, ending its continuous uptrend since 2006. Nevertheless, some service industries remained buoyant, according to DSEC. In 2014, the GVA of Transport, Storage & Communications went up 19.4 per cent year-on-year in real terms, Education was up 15 per cent, and Renting & Business Activities was up 12.9 per cent, while Hotels & Other Provision of Short-Stay Accommodation also increased 12 per cent. Meanwhile, Wholesale & Retail saw its contribution to the total Gross Value Added stay virtually at 5.3 per cent compared with 2013. Secondary sector’s share up As the contribution of the service sector to the total GVA decreased, the proportion of the secondary sector, which is related to production and construction, rose by 1.5 percentage point year-on-year to 5.2 per cent in 2014. The hike in the relative importance of the secondary sector was contributed to by the outstanding growth in the construction sector’s GVA, up 40.6 per cent year-on-year in real terms, causing the whole secondary sector’s GVA to jump 34.7 per cent in real terms. DSEC indicated that the surge in the construction sector’s GVA was attributable to the construction of major tourism and entertainment facilities as well as increased investment in building construction. The government department noted it has used producers’ prices for calculating and analysing the data in yesterday’s report, rather than basic prices used for the previous reports. ‘The difference between basic prices and producers’ prices is that the former does not include taxes on products. As the gaming sector assumes a leading role in the economy of Macao and gaming tax is enormous, valuation of gross output and gross value added of the industry at producers’ prices can provide a more accurate measure of the contribution of the industry to the economy,’ it explained.
—
