The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP150.5 billion (USD18.80 billion) at the end of May 2016. The reserves decreased by 0.8% from the revised value of MOP151.7 billion (USD18.98 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-May 2016 represented 12 times the currency in circulation or 105.9% of Pataca M2 at end-April 2016.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 0.47 points month-to-month and 1.59 points year-on-year to 105.36 in May 2016, implying that overall speaking, the pataca appreciated against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners.