Macao's forex reserves drop to 26.72 bln USD by June

MACAO, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The preliminary estimate of Macao's foreign exchange reserves amounted to 215.7 billion patacas (about 26.72 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of June, the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR)'s monetary watchdog said on Thursday.

The latest statistics from the Monetary Authority of Macao showed that the reserves decreased 0.9 percent from the revised value of 217.8 billion patacas (about 26.98 billion dollars) for the previous month.

Macao's foreign exchange reserves as of the end of June represented 10 times the currency in circulation, or 86.2 percent of the pataca broad money supply (M2) at the end of May.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 1.29 points month-on-month and 1.59 points year-on-year to 103.4 in June.