Foreign Exchange Reserves increase 4.9 pct in December

Macau’s foreign exchange reserves increased 4.9 per cent in December to MOP150.8 billion (US$18.89 billion) from MOP143.8 billion in November, the Monetary Authority of Macau announced on Friday.
Year-on-year, during December Macau’s foreign exchange reserves increased 14.8 per cent per cent to MOP150.8 billion from MOP131.4 billion, the value at the end of December 2014.
According to a government press release, at the end of December local foreign exchange reserves accounted for 13 times the currency in circulation.
Regarding the trade-weighted effective exchange rate index, used to compare the exchange rate of Macau against the exchange rate of its major trading partners, the pataca rose 0.15 points month-to-month and 5.66 points year-on-year to 107.29 in December 2015. This means that during the course of last year the pataca appreciated against the currencies of Macau’s major trading partners.