The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP151.8 billion (USD19.00 billion) at the end of April 2016. The reserves decreased by 0.4% from the revised value of MOP152.4 billion (USD19.08 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-April 2016 represented 12 times the currency in circulation or 106.9% of Pataca M2 at end-March 2016.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca dropped 1.04 points month-to-month but rose 0.04 points year-on-year to 104.89 in April 2016, 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.