The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP146.6 billion (USD18.35 billion) at the end of December 2009. The reserves rose by 0.5% from the revised value of MOP145.8 billion (USD18.26 billion) for the previous month. When compared with the same period last year, the reserves increased by MOP19.4 billion or 15.3%. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-December 2009 represented 30 times the currency in circulation or 247.0% of Pataca M2 at end-November 2009. 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 by 0.45 points month-to-month but fell by 2.74 points year-on-year to 89.24 in December 2009.
