MACAO - The preliminary estimate of the Macao Special Administrative Region's foreign exchange reserves amounted to 196.2 billion patacas ($24.44 billion) at the end of February 2011, according to the figures released by the Monetary Authority of Macao Tuesday.

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The reserves for February rose by 2.2 percent over the previous month, or up by 31 percent year on year, according to the Monetary Authority of Macao.

Macao's foreign exchange reserves at the end of February 2011 represented 30 times the currency in circulation at the end of January.

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 0.62 points month-to-month or 2.07 points year-on-year to 88.21 in February 2011.