WTO commends Macau’s economic approach

The WTO has praised the SAR’s steps to open and diversify its economy and its response to the crisis provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Macau.- The World Trade Organization has praised Macau for maintaining an open economy with few trade and investment restrictions and for making a prompt response to the Covid-19 pandemic through relief measures equivalent to 12 per cent of the city’s global domestic product.

According to the Macau News Agency, the WTO’s comments came after the Fifth Trade Policy Review of Macau, which took place between December 15 to 17. The review was chaired by Ambassador Harald Aspelund from Iceland. The last Macau trade review took place in 2013.

The WTO said that by maintaining an open economy, Macau had seen a rapid increase in per capita GDP to one of the world’s highest while sustaining a sound fiscal position.

The WTO committee “took note of efforts to diversify economic activity, including the roadmap for the promotion of intra‑sectoral and inter‑sectoral diversification contained in Maca’s first Five-Year Development Plan”.

However, it highlighted that the SAR still had “strong dependence of the economy on the tourism and gaming sector”, which the reviewers noted made Macau vulnerable to fluctuations, as has been particularly evident during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Final GDP for 2020 is expected to show a contraction of 52 per cent. The SAR expects GDP to grow by 24 per cent in 2021.