Forex reserves jump as at 2016-end

The city’s foreign exchange reserves reached MOP155.7 billion (US$19.5 billion) as at the end of last year, reveal preliminary estimates by the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM).
The amount represents an increase of 2.8 per cent from that of MOP151.4 billion as at the end of November, or a growth of 3.2 per cent from MOP150.8 billion for the same month in 2015.
Meanwhile, as at the end of the year, the SAR government’s foreign exchange reserves represented 12 times the currency in circulation, or 97.3 per cent of Pataca M2 as at the end of November last year.
‘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.
On the other hand, the trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca amounted to 110.2 in December of last year, which is an increase of 1.67 points month-on-month, or a growth of 2.91 points year-on-year.
The increases suggest the exchange rate of the local currency, in general, advanced against the currencies of the city’s trading partners, according to AMCM.