Macao's forex reserves drop to 26.6 bln USD by March

MACAO, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The preliminary estimate of Macao's foreign exchange reserves amounted to 215.1 billion patacas (about 26.6 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of March, the Macao Special Administrative Region's (SAR) monetary watchdog said on Friday.

The latest statistics from the Monetary Authority of Macao showed that the reserves decreased 0.8 percent from the revised value of 216.9 billion patacas (about 26.84 billion dollars) for the previous month.

Macao's foreign exchange reserves as of the end of March represented 10 times the currency in circulation, or 84.1 percent of the pataca broad money supply (M2) at the end of February.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 0.44 point month-on-month and 4.55 points year-on-year to 102.1 in March.