Macao's trade deficit down 3.2% in Q1

Macao's trade deficit for the first quarter of 2009 dropped by 3.2 percent year-on-year to 6.18 billion patacas (782 million U.S. dollars), according to the figures released on Thursday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The figures showed that Macao's total exports of goods fell by 49.2 percent year-on-year to 2.03 billion patacas (257 million dollars), with the value of domestic exports and re-exports declining by 63.5 percent and 24 percent respectively, while total imports of goods slid by 20.9 percent to 8.21 billion patacas (1.04 billion dollars) during the first quarter. The exports/imports ratio went down by 13.8 percentage points year-on-year to 24.7 percent in the period.

Analyzed by the destinations of Macao's exports, the value of merchandise exports to the United States, the European Union and Chinese mainland decreased by 70.5 percent, 61.1 percent and 35.6 percent year-on-year respectively in the period, according to the DSEC.

The value of Textile and garment exports declined by 64 percent year-on-year to account for 42.1 percent of the total exports of goods and the value of Non-textile exports also dropped by 27.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the value of imports from the mainland and Hong Kong dropped by 42.8 percent and 12.7 percent respectively year-on-year, with the value of imports of all broad economic categories registered year-on-year decreases, the DSEC said.

Source: Xinhua