The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP128.8 billion (USD16.10 billion) at the end of March 2012. The reserves rose by 1.6% or MOP2.1 billion from the revised value of MOP126.7 billion (USD15.86 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-March 2012 represented 20 times the currency in circulation or 158.2% of Pataca M2 at end-February 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, rose by 0.16 points month-to-month and 0.51 points year-on-year to 88.24 in March 2012.

For enquiry, please contact:

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