Macao's Forex Reserves Score Notable Rise in 2000The foreign exchange reserves of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) reached 26.7 billion patacas (3.34 billion US dollars) on December 31, 2000, up 16 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest sources from the Macao Monetary Authority.The authority predicts that the figure was still on the increase at the beginning of this year. The bulk increase was mainly attributed to the sustained profits from local current account projects, the brisk gambling business and the high returns from foreign currency investment. The total assets of Macao's banks picked up 4.7 percent last year, following a sharp year-on-year decrease of 19.1 percent in 1999. Their non-performing loans and credits dropped, the source said. The SAR Reserves Fund, called the Land Fund before Macao's return to the motherland, had climbed to 10.5 billion patacas (1.31 billion US dollars) by the end of last year. As part of the efforts to strengthen financial administration, Macao became a member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) this year. |
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