The foreign exchange reserves of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) amounted to 17.61 billion U.S. dollars at the end of May 2009, increasing by 2.4 percent month-to-month, according to the figures released on Tuesday by the SAR's Monetary Authority.

When compared with the same period last year, the reserves for May increased by 20.8 percent, the figures showed. The SAR's foreign exchange reserves at the end of May represented 31 times the currency in circulation.

Meanwhile, 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 1.25 points month-to-month but rose by 4.1 points year-on-year to 91.34 in May this year, the Authority said.

Source: Xinhua