Macau’s economic secretary predicts the chances for the economy to suffer from negative growth in 2009 are high.

Presenting the economic policies to law-makers, the Secretary for the Economy and Finance, Tam Pak Yuen (譚伯源) also predicted that economic growth will also be negative for the final quarter of this year.

The overall GDP growth rate will be about 10% for the entire year.

But he assured that the economic foundation remains sound, and that the gaming and tourism sectors can still operate and viable, which in turn will bring the economy to recovery when environment improves.

During the debate, many legislators expressed concern over the recent development of the gaming sector, which may further bring the population into unemployment.

Tam emphasised that the Government’s priority will be to safeguard the economy and livelihood of the population.

He also said that every effort will be exerted to keep the local population to have jobs.

Meanwhile, figures released by the Statistics and Census Bureau show that the unemployment rate for the third quarter of the year stands at 3.1%, and the median income to the local working population has increased to MOP10,000.

On the other hand, Galaxy Casino announced that its project in Cotai will be delayed to 2010 for inauguration

Source: BlogMacau.Info