Foreign exchange reserves and nominal effective exchange rate index for the pataca – March 2016

The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP152.5 billion (USD19.09 billion) at the end of March 2016. The reserves decreased by 0.5% from the revised value of MOP153.2 billion (USD19.13 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-March 2016 represented 12 times the currency in circulation or 105.7% of Pataca M2 at end-February 2016. The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca dropped 0.48 points month-to-month but rose 0.74 points year-on-year to 105.93 in March 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.