IMSEE has released the latest figures on Monaco's economy for the start of the year. Although the country's revenue is down, it's not necessarily bad news. Here’s why.
During a presentation to the Monaco Economic Board last Wednesday, Alexandre Bubbio, Director of the Monegasque Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (IMSEE), and his team unveiled the key economic data for the first quarter of 2024, coinciding with the release of the latest edition of "Monaco in Figures."
"The latest trends show that foreign trade continues to progress, reaching nearly one billion euros in Q1. These are significant results indicating that while the share with the European Union slightly decreases, it remains the majority," introduced Bubbio.
Bubbio focused on the latest revenue results for the Principality. "This is the negative indicator for Q1 2024. Overall, it's -10%," he stated.
He continued, “At first glance, a 10% drop may seem catastrophic. But if we look closely at the graph, it's the second highest result ever achieved in the Principality.”
To explain this duality, we need to examine the results of each major activity group (GSA). "Not surprisingly, wholesale trade continues to decline with the reduction in inflation. This GSA includes trading activities, so 'price effect' is significant in this sector. We benefited from it in 2022, then prices began to fall in 2023, before stabilizing to a near-normal inflation level in 2024," explained Bubbio. "We end up with a revenue of over one billion euros, which isn't bad for this sector."
The second significant decline is in scientific, technical, and administrative support services. This major sector employs the most personnel in the Principality. While it outperformed in revenue terms in recent years, "this was due to construction economists benefiting from large projects. Now, these projects are nearly completed, and we are in the finishing stages, returning to more normal activity levels," analyzed Bubbio. With a revenue of nearly 861 million euros in Q1 2024, the sector still posted the second-best result in the Principality despite the decline.
"If we combine the declines of these two sectors, it almost offsets the entire decline of the Principality," summarized Bubbio. “We have a revenue decrease, but it remains the second-best result since we started keeping statistics.”
Furthermore, the Principality's revenue exceeded 20 billion euros for the first time in 2023. “That's a 57% increase in revenue over 10 years.”
While revenue has declined, the number of jobs has increased significantly. In Q1 2024, the country had 62,592 employees. "That's nearly 3,000 more jobs than last year. Some sectors have hired more than others, but overall, everything is progressing. The only recorded decrease is in domestic staff."
The number of hours worked has also increased. "It's up by nearly 400,000 hours/month in Q1." In 2023, the symbolic threshold of 100 million hours worked was surpassed (103.3 million cumulative hours worked in the private sector).
This is the result of data collection and analysis carried out throughout the year. IMSEE has published its annual "Monaco in Figures." This new edition gathers all the statistics for 2023. Among the notable results, the revenue for the hotel and restaurant sector nearly reached one billion euros for the first time. “That's almost +15% compared to 2022.”
"Monaco in Figures" is available at IMSEE at 9 rue du Gabian for 15€, or by mail. It can also be downloaded for free from the website www.imsee.mc
The hospitality sector is performing well. "All indicators are up. Looking at the monthly occupancy rate between 2022 and 2023, we see the excellent result in March, outperforming the previous year. For the first time, we surpassed 100,000 overnight stays in Q1," announced Bubbio.
Resales are at an "almost stable" level in Q1 2024. Regarding new housing sales, four were recorded compared to 12 in the same period in 2023. This decline is due to the completion of recent housing deliveries. "Since we started keeping real estate stats, we have one quarter with three transactions out of two."