Macao's foreign exchange reserves up 3.6 pct in June

MACAO, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The Macao Special Administrative Region's foreign exchange reserves rose 3.6 percent month on month to 243.9 billion patacas (about 30.2 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of June, the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) said on Wednesday.

The reserves increased from a revised 235.3 billion patacas at the end of May, representing 11 times the currency in circulation, or 88.8 percent of the Macao pataca M2 at end-May, according to the authority.

Meanwhile, the AMCM noted that the trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the Macao pataca rose 0.61 points from the previous month to 100.0 in June, but was down 0.70 points from a year earlier, implying that the pataca grew against the currencies of Macao's major trading partners on a monthly basis but dropped on an annual basis.