The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP175.1 billion (USD21.92 billion) at the end of October 2010. The reserves rose by 3.2% from the revised value of MOP169.7 billion (USD21.23 billion) for the previous month. When compared with a year earlier, the reserves increased by MOP32.9 billion or 23.2%. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-October 2010 represented 33 times the currency in circulation or 259.3% of Pataca M2 at end-September 2010.

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, fell by 1.61 points month-to-month and 0.21 points year-on-year to 88.89 in October 2010.