It will take almost a decade for Macau to achieve the same gross gaming revenue (GGR) it posted in 2014, according to credit debt watcher Fitch Ratings.

Assuming that the former Portuguese enclave will post 5 to 6 percent growth, Fitch predicted that it will take nine years for Macau to chalk a MOP351.52 billion (US$44 billion) gross gaming revenue. The last time Macau registered such GGR was in 2014 while its all-time annual casino GGR record was in 2013, when the city recorded an aggregate of just under MOP360.75 billion (US$ 45.14 billion).

Macau’s GGR, however, plummets by 34.3 percent to MOP230.84 billion (US$28.89 billion) in 2015 due to China’s anti-corruption drive. For 2016, Fitch projects an approximately 5 percent decline in Macau’s gaming revenues.

“We expect a mid single-digit growth [Macau gambling revenue) in 2017 and beyond,” Alex Bumazhny, Fitch’s senior director for gaming, lodging and leisure, said in a briefing in Hong Kong on Wednesday, according to GGRAsia. “This assumes high single-digit mass-market growth and low single-digit VIP growth. With this growth rate it would take Macau over nine years to return to the prior gaming revenue peak reached in 2014.”