Macau’s economy shrank by 13.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016, dragged down by continued decrease in exports of services due to lower gaming revenue and tourism industry weakness as a result of China’s anti-corruption drive and economic slowdown.

The latest data released by the city’s Statistics and Census Service DSEC, last Monday was rather a good news for China’s beleaguered gambling hub, which marked the seventh straight quarter of economic contraction and saw its sovereign debt status downgraded by Moody’s Investor Service several days ago.

Statistics suggests that Macau is on track to economic recovery after hitting rock bottom in the second quarter of 2015 when it posted a contraction of 26.4 percent. Macau’s 13.3 percent contraction in the first quarter of 2016 is also an improvement from the 2015 fourth quarter GDP fall of 14.4 percent.

External demand showed no sign of improvement as exports of goods and services fell by 24.6 percent and 13.7 percent respectively. Gaming services in Macau, which were equivalent to more than 52 percent of Macau’s GDP at current prices, are included in exports when calculating the city’s GDP.