Foreign exchange reserves MOP145 bln in September

A preliminary estimate of the city’s foreign exchange reserves totalled MOP145.3 billion (US$18.21 billion) as at the end of last month, according to the foreign exchange services and nominal effective exchange rate index for the pataca released yesterday by the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM).
According to official data, the reserves represent an increase of 0.2 per cent from MOP145.1 billion the city posted for the previous month.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year comparison, the reserves jumped 12.46 per cent from MOP129.2 billion.
As at the end of September, foreign exchange reserves represented 13 times the currency in circulation, or 108.6 per cent of Pataca M2 as at the end of August 2015.
‘M2’ refers to that part of the money supply that includes physical coins and currency, as well as readily liquid assets such as on-demand bank deposits and money held in cheque accounts plus all time-related deposits, savings deposits, and non-institutional money market funds.
In addition, the trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 0.07 points month-on-month and 6.90 points year-on-year to 105.79 in September 2015, suggesting the pataca had appreciated against the currencies of Macau’s major trading partners in general.