The Monetary Authority of Macao announced today (15 March) that the preliminary estimate of Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to MOP229.4 billion (USD28.45 billion) at the end of February 2024. The reserves increased by 1.7% from the revised value of MOP225.6 billion (USD28.02 billion) for the previous month. Macao SAR’s foreign exchange reserves at end-February 2024 represented 11 times the currency in circulation or 90.1% of pataca M2 at end-January 2024.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 0.80 points month-on-month and 2.55 points year-on-year to 104.2 in February 2024, implying that overall speaking, the exchange rate of the pataca grew against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners.