The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP144.9 billion (USD18.16 billion) at the end of October 2015. The reserves decreased by 0.3% from the revised value of MOP145.3 billion (USD18.21 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-October 2015 represented 12 times the currency in circulation or 105.4% of Pataca M2 at end-September 2015.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca dropped 0.40 points month-to-month but rose 5.92 points year-on-year to 105.39 in October 2015, implying that overall speaking, the pataca depreciated against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners on a monthly basis but appreciated on an annual basis.