The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP155.0 billion (USD19.40 billion) at the end of September 2016. The reserves decreased by 0.5% from the revised value of MOP155.8 billion (USD19.50 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-September 2016 represented 12 times the currency in circulation or 100.8% of Pataca M2 at end-August 2016.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 0.21 points month-to-month but fell 0.03 points year-on-year to 105.76 in September 2016, implying that overall speaking, the exchange rate of pataca grew against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners on a monthly basis but dropped on an annual basis.