(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-26 15:30

MACAO  -- Despite a strong GDP growth of 27 percent last year, the Bank of China (BOC) Macao Branch predicted in a recent economic research report that Macao's GDP growth in 2008 will be lowered to 13 percent.

According to the report, the slowdown of world economic growth will "certainly" have its impact on the special administrative region (SAR), but thanks to the dynamic development of its leisure and tourism industries and ballooning fixed asset investment, Macao will sustain a two-digit GDP growth rate this year, although lower than 2007.

By the end of 2007, six casino operators with gaming concessions and sub-concessions have opened their flagship casino resorts in the island city, which not only helped boost the SAR's direct gaming taxes to 29.3 billion patacas (US$3.7 billion) but also brought a large amount of fixed asset investment that contributed nearly 30 percent to the total value of the SAR's GDP, said So Chun Fai, asset and liability manager of BOC Macao.

He added that as gaming companies expand their operations here, leading to the construction of more casino resorts, and a new round of infrastructure investment, such as the city's light rail and natural gas projects, large amounts of funds will be poured into Macao along with the surging fixed-asset investment, which will be the "shining point" of the city's economy in the coming years.

Despite a foreseeable growth, the report also focused on the diversification of Macao's economy which still depended heavily on the gaming industry.

"It is undeniable that concentrating the whole of the economy in one single industry will bring about high risks," the report said.

Official statistics showed that direct gaming taxes accounted for over 70 percent of the SAR government's total revenue in 2007.

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