The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP137.0 billion (USD17.15 billion) at the end of January 2013. The reserves increased by 3.4% or MOP4.5 billion from the revised value of MOP132.5 billion (USD16.60 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-January 2013 represented 18 times the currency in circulation or 150.7% of Pataca M2 at end-December 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 slightly by 0.07 points month-to-month but fell 0.48 points year-on-year to 96.92 in January 2013.

For enquiry, please contact:

Research and Statistics Department, Monetary Authority of Macao (Tel: 83952532; Fax: 28353042)