Macao’s forex reserves drop to 26.56 bln USD by February MACAO, The preliminary estimate of Macao’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to 213.7 billion patacas (about 26.56 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of February 2022, the special administrative region’s (SAR) monetary watchdog said on Tuesday. The latest statistics from the Monetary Authority of Macao indicated that the reserves decreased by 1.3 percent from the revised value of 216.6 billion patacas (about 26.97 billion dollars) for the previous month. Macao’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of February 2022 represented 10 times the currency in circulation or 85.6 percent of pataca M2 at the end of January 2022. The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca fell 0.16 point month on month but rose 1.47 points year on year to 103.6 in February 2022, implying that the exchange rate of the pataca dropped against the currencies of Macao’s major trading partners on a monthly basis but grew on an annual basis.