Francis Tam: Macao benefits from the adjustment of Renminbi

The Mainland’s decision to reform the exchange regime of the Renminbi will facilitate the economic development of Macao, the Secretary of Economy and Finance, Mr Francis Tam Pak Yuen, said this afternoon. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) last evening announced that from now on the Reminibi’s exchange rate would be adjusted according to a basket of currencies. The move means the Reminibi will now trade at around 8.11 to the US dollar, as against 8.28. “Macao will only have a temporarily slight effect as the scale of increase is not high,” said Mr Tam. But he said the reform might bring benefits to the import and export industry of Macao. On market anticipation that the value of the Renminbi would go up by 10% within this year, Mr Tam said it would take some time to see how the currency moved.