Macao’s financial reserve stood at 574.4 billion patacas at the end of November 2023, a 7.7 billion gain on the month prior after two successive months of decline, Portuguese news agency Lusa reports.
That’s more than the 557.97 billion patacas 2022 ended on – the reserve’s lowest value since January 2019 – but the latest figure is still a long way off February 2021’s record of 669.7 billion patacas.
During the pandemic, the government was forced to dip into its financial reserves to cover public expenditure, withdrawing more than 100 billion patacas to plug shortfalls in its budget.
[See more: Macao’s 2023 GDP may have recovered to 80 percent of its pre-Covid level]
Last November, the government approved its first balanced budget since the pandemic began.
It forecast a 1.17 billion patacas surplus for 2024 and noted that there would be “no need to resort to the financial reserve.”
Macao’s financial reserve is mainly made up of deposits and current accounts, credit securities and subcontracted investments.
