Monetary reserves reach MOP478 bln

Initial estimates of the city’s financial reserves by the Monetary Authority of Macau indicate that at the end of the second quarter, the city’s basic reserve had reached MOP127.95 billion and its extra reserve MOP350.11 billion, totalling MOP478.06 billion. The group notes that ‘with the continual adoption of investment strategies based on the principles of security, efficiency and stability, in the first half year, the return on investment registered for the financial reserve reached MOP10.09 billion, corresponding to an annual return of 4.4 per cent,’ notes an AMCM release.
The Authority references that in the first quarter the United States Federal Reserve raised their interest rates twice, ‘contributing to an increase in the interest rate of U.S. Dollars in monetary markets’.
‘The allocation of funds was carried out by the financial reserve, in a staged and opportune form, according to the situation of the interest rates of markets,’ notes the Authority, revealing that the revenue from interest on deposits of money markets reached ‘about MOP1.92 billion’ by end-June.
The Authority notes that it accompanied the interest rate hike and adjusted the proportion of risk of its portfolio through hedging of exchange risks, noting that the total loss on currency exchange ‘after the deduction of the costs from hedging operations’ saw a ‘significant reduction, to the level of MOP300 million’.
Regarding securities, the group saw a MOP2.51 billion influx in the first semester, notes the Authority, while pointing out that in regard to its equity funds investments the group brought in MOP5.96 billion by the end of June.