Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 45.9% year-on-year in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2020, a smaller decline than in the preceding quarter (-63.8%). External demand recovered compared to the previous quarter; export of services dropped at a slower pace, by 61.0% year-on-year, with exports of gaming services and other tourism services falling by 70.3% and 48.9% respectively. Exports of goods surged by 245.2%. As regards domestic demand, investment dropped by 11.7% year-on-year; private consumption expenditure decreased by 10.2% whereas government final consumption expenditure rose by 8.4%.

The pandemic of novel coronavirus pneumonia had significant impact on global economic activity in 2020. The economy of Macao, which was mainly driven by exports of services, was inevitably affected, with a substantial drop in total demand. For the whole year of 2020, the economy declined by 56.3% in real terms. Domestic demand shrank by 10.3% year-on-year; gross fixed capital formation fell by 15.1% resulting from a decline in private construction investment. Private consumption decreased by 16.3% year-on-year as residents went out less and made fewer trips abroad amid the pandemic and economic outlook remained uncertain. In response to the pandemic, the SAR government scaled up the procurement of protective gear and medical supplies, rented hotels to be used as quarantine facilities and introduced economic relief measures, which drove up government final consumption expenditure by 11.4%; compensation of employees and net purchases of goods and services went up by 2.4% and 22.5% respectively. With respect to external demand, visitor arrivals to Macao dropped by 85.0% due to travel restrictions imposed in different places; hence, exports of services slid by 74.9% year-on-year, with exports of gaming services and other tourism services falling by 80.4% and 73.4% respectively. On the other hand, exports of goods soared by 128.9%.

In 2020, GDP amounted to MOP194.4 billion and per-capita GDP was MOP285,314 (approximately USD35,714). Besides, the implicit deflator of GDP, which measures overall changes in prices, remained steady year-on-year in 2020 and dropped by 2.0% in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, the rate of change of GDP for the first quarter of 2020 was revised downward to -48.3% while the rate for the second quarter was revised upward to -67.9%.