Macao's fiscal surplus reaches 7.44 bln USD in first 10 months

Macao recorded a fiscal surplus of 59.53 billion patacas (7.44 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months of 2011, up by 68.3 percent over the same period last year, according to the figures released Friday by the city's Financial Services Bureau (DSF). Total public revenue (excluding the amounts from the autonomous agencies) of Macao in the first 10 months of 2011 reached 90.82 billion patacas (11.35 billion U.S. dollars), up by 45 percent year-on-year, the figures indicated. The DSF pointed out that the remarkable increase in public revenue was due to noticeable increase in the revenue of "Direct taxes from gaming" and "Transfers", up by 46.6 percent and 48.4 percent year-on-year respectively, and was contributed by increasing gross gaming revenue. Revenue of "Direct taxes from gaming" during the first 10 months of 2011 reached 76.31 billion patacas (9.53 billion U.S. dollars), according to the DSF figures. By law, local casinos were required to pay 35 percent of their revenues as direct gaming taxes to the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and another five percent as special contributions to the city's urban development and promotion of local tourism. The figures also indicated that total public expenditure in the first 10 months of 2011 increased by 14.7 percent year-on-year to 31.3 billion patacas (3.91 billion U.S. dollars).