As the global financial crisis continued to affect Macao, the Special Administrative Region (SAR) recorded insufficient confidence among local consumers, according to the Macao consumer confidence index for the fourth quarter last year released in Macao on Tuesday.

The results of the consumer confidence survey were released by a research group of the Macao University of Science and Technology (MUST), which interviewed 915 local residents above the age of 18. The survey comprises of consumer confidence and the respondents' views on major economic topics.

Based on the survey results, local consumer confidence index stood at 73.58 in the fourth quarter of 2008. The index rate ranges from zero to 200. When the rate drops below 100-mark, it means "lack of confidence", and "sufficient confidence" comes as it goes beyond 100, according to the survey results.

This is the first time for local institutes to release consumer confidence index, which has hit a new low in other places such as the United States, the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, due to sweeping impact of the credit crunch.

The survey results also showed that the confidence index was higher among the locals with higher education backgrounds, and the young people who were aged between 19 and 29. People with higher incomes also had higher consumer confidence than those earning less.

As for major economic topics, 42 percent of the respondents were concerned about the slowing growth of local gaming industry, which Macao's economy heavily relies on, and 81 percent said that they have sufficient incomes and current assets to sustain their expenses for the whole of 2009, according to the survey results.

Macao, an island city with just over 550,000 residents, is the only place in China where gambling is legal. The SAR's casino revenues for the whole of 2008 rose by 31 percent year-on-year to record high of 108.7 billion patacas (13.7 billion U.S. dollars), according to the latest figures from the SAR's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).

The MUST said that they will release the index on a quarterly basis in the future.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)