Forex reserves total MOP122.7 bln in May

Macau’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to 122.7 billion patacas (US$15.4 billion) at the end of May.
According to preliminary estimates released by the Monetary Authority here, the reserves rebounded 2 percent from the revised value of 120.3 billion patacas for the previous month.
The territory’s foreign exchange reserves represent 13 times the currency in circulation at the end of May, or around 108.6 percent of the pataca M2 at the end of April.
‘M1’ 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. ‘M2’ is M1 plus all time-related deposits, savings deposits, and non-institutional money market funds.
The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency’s exchange rate against the currencies of Macau’s major trading partners, increased 0.14 points month-on-month but dropped 1.14 points year-on-year to 97.25 in May 2014.