The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP150.8 billion (USD18.89 billion) at the end of December 2015. The reserves increased by 4.9% from the revised value of MOP143.8 billion (USD18.01 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-December 2015 represented 13 times the currency in circulation or 106.9% of Pataca M2 at end-November 2015.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 0.15 points month-to-month and 5.66 points year-on-year to 107.29 in December 2015, implying that overall speaking, the pataca appreciated against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners.