The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP137.3 billion (USD17.20 billion) at the end of April 2015. The reserves increased by 0.3% from the revised value of MOP136.9 billion (USD17.14 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-April 2015 represented 12 times the currency in circulation or 104.4% of Pataca M2 at end-March 2015. 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 0.34 points month-to-month but rose by 7.74 points year-on-year to 104.85 in April 2015.