The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP147.5 billion (USD18.43 billion) at the end of January 2010. The reserves rose by 0.7% from the revised value of MOP146.6 billion (USD18.35 billion) for the previous month. When compared with the same period last year, the reserves increased by MOP18.3 billion or 14.2%. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-January 2010 represented 30 times the currency in circulation or 246.9% of Pataca M2 at end-December 2009.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency’s exchange rates against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners, rose by 0.19 points month-to-month but fell by 2.71 points year-on-year to 89.42 in January 2010.