Macao's forex reserves rise to 26.84 bln USD by February

MACAO, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The preliminary estimate of Macao's foreign exchange reserves amounted to 216.9 billion patacas (about 26.84 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of February, the Macao Special Administrative Region's monetary watchdog said on Wednesday.

The latest statistics from the Monetary Authority of Macao indicated that the reserves increased by 1.7 percent from the revised value of 213.3 billion patacas (about 26.43 billion dollars) for the previous month.

Macao's foreign exchange reserves as of the end of February represented roughly 10 times the currency in circulation or 82.1 percent of the pataca broad money supply (M2) at the end of January.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 0.24 point month on month and 5.15 points year on year to 101.7 in February.