The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP131.2 billion (USD16.41 billion) at the end of May 2012. The reserves rose by 0.7% or MOP0.9 billion from the revised value of MOP130.3 billion (USD16.31 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-May 2012 represented 20 times the currency in circulation or 160.6% of Pataca M2 at end-April 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 0.52 points month-to-month and 1.69 points year-on-year to 88.72 in May 2012.