Growth for the first quarter of this year was still an enviable 18.4%. Export of tourism services, investment and private sector consumption are the main driving force behind the rapid growth. At the same time, we can perceive the gradual success of policy measures relating to appropriate diversification advocated by the SAR Government for years.
Fresh domestic and overseas investments are on the rise, market consumption is growing steadily, service industries, particularly the financial industry, have developed robustly and prospered. As the financing intermediary for all walks of trade, the financial industry has been playing a major role in promoting economic development of Macao. When gauged in the context of GDP, the Macao financial industry contributes about 8%.