Macao's Forex Reserves Reach $23.92 Bln in January

The preliminary estimate of the Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves amounted to 192 billion patacas (23.92 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of January 2011, according to the figures released on Tuesday by the Monetary Authority of Macao.

The reserves for January rose by 0.9 percent over the previous month, and, when compared with a year earlier, the reserves increased by 30.1 percent, the figures indicated.

Macao's foreign exchange reserves at the end of January 2011 represented 35 times the currency in circulation at the end of last December.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency's exchange rates against the currencies of Macao's major trading partners, fell by 0.63 points month-to-month and 0.59 points year-on-year to 88.83 in January 2011.