Macao's fiscal surplus exceeds 7.64 bln USD in first 9 months

Macao recorded a fiscal surplus of 61.12 billion patacas (7.64 billion U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of 2012, up 9 percent over the same period last year, according to the latest figures released by the city's Financial Services Bureau (DSF). Total public revenue (excluding the amounts from the Autonomous Agencies) of Macao in the first nine months reached 93.49 billion patacas (11.69 billion U.S. dollars), up 14.8 percent year-on-year, the figures indicated. The remarkable increase in public revenue was due to noticeable increases in the revenue of "direct taxes from gaming". The revenue of "direct taxes from gaming" during the first nine months of 2012 reached 79.74 billion patacas (9.97 billion U.S. dollars), increasing by 16 percent compared with last year, according to the figures. By law, local casinos were required to pay 35 percent of their revenues as direct gaming taxes to the government of theMacao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and another 5 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 nine months of this year increased by 27.8 percent year-on- year to 32.37 billion patacas (4.05 billion U.S. dollars).