The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP157.9 billion (USD19.63 billion) at the end of September 2017. The reserves decreased by 1.0% from the revised value of MOP159.5 billion (USD19.79 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-September 2017 represented 11 times the currency in circulation or 88.3% of pataca M2 at end-August 2017.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca dropped 0.71 points month-to-month and 2.16 points year-on-year to 103.6 in September 2017, implying that overall speaking, the exchange rate of the pataca declined against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners.