According to the Fiscal Reserve Act that came into effect at the outset of this year, the fiscal reserves and foreign exchange reserves are managed under separate accounts. The assets allocated from the foreign exchange reserves to the fiscal reserves will be reflected in fiscal reserve accounts, which will be disseminated regularly in the future. Due to the official transfer of the relevant assets last month, the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves fell to MOP126.7 billion (USD15.86 billion) at the end of February 2012, as against the revised value of MOP283.3 billion (USD35.46 billion) at end-January. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-February 2012 represented 18 times the currency in circulation or 152.5% of Pataca M2 at end-January 2012.

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, fell by 0.52 points month-to-month and 0.13 points year-on-year to 88.08 in February 2012.

For enquiry, please contact:

Research and Statistics Department, Monetary Authority of Macao (Tel: 83952532; Fax: 28353042)