The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP129.2 billion (USD16.17 billion) at the end of January 2009. The reserves rose by 1.6% from the revised value of MOP127.2 billion (USD15.93 billion) for the previous month. When compared with the same period last year, the reserves increased by MOP20.3 billion or 18.6%. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-January 2009 represented 29 times the currency in circulation or about 238.8% of Pataca M2 at end-December 2008.

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 3.05 points year-on-year to 92.13 in January 2009.