Macau - Economic sectors

Macau has the advantage of being an entry point to the huge China market, although its economic development has been held back by its small territory, small population,

Communications
Country	Telephones a	Telephones, Mobile/Cellular a	Radio Stations b	Radios a	TV Stations a	Televisions a	Internet Service Providers c	Internet Users c
Macau	176,837 (2000)	120,957 (2000)	AM 0; FM 2; shortwave 0	160,000	0	49,000	1	40,000
United States	194 M	69.209 M (1998)	AM 4,762; FM 5,542; shortwave 18	575 M	1,500	219 M	7,800	148 M
China	135 M (2000)	65 M (2001)	AM 369; FM 259; shortwave 45	417 M	3,240	400 M	3	22 M (2001)
Hong Kong	3.839 M (1999)	3.7 M (1999)	AM 7; FM 13; shortwave 0	4.45 M	4	1.84 M	17	1.85 M
a Data is for 1997 unless otherwise noted.
b Data is for 1998 unless otherwise noted.
c Data is for 2000 unless otherwise noted.
SOURCE: CIA World Factbook 2001 [Online].

and extremely limited natural resources, as well as competition from neighboring Hong Kong. The policy of encouraging private entrepreneurship, giving priority to the development of export-oriented sectors and capital intensive industries—combined with a relatively cheap labor force —has contributed to the rise of Macau's prosperity. By 2000, manufacturing (textiles, clothing, toys, and electronics), gambling, and tourism became the largest sectors of Macau's economy.

The 1997 Asian financial crisis contributed to the slowing of economic growth in all sectors of the economy, although Macau managed to avoid an economic decline

on the scale of Indonesia or Thailand. The crisis also indicated the need for a further broadening of the economy. Throughout the 1990s, the Macau government struggled to attract value-added manufacturing on the same scale as Hong Kong or Singapore, especially in such important sectors as computer hardware and information technologies (IT). Due to the small size of Macau's market, it lags behind neighboring Hong Kong in providing business and banking services. Macau tries to compete with Hong Kong by offering good infrastructure, cheaper business property rent and labor, and efficient administrative services.