Macau Currency
The legal currency of Macau is the Macau Pataca (Pataca). Macau has its own currency, which can be traced back to 1906. For hundreds of years before that, Macau had been using Chinese silver dollars and copper dollars as its main currency. Since the 19th century, as the Portuguese's activities in Macau have become more frequent, the currencies circulating in Macau have also become diversified. The Mexican silver dollar once became the main local commercial exchange. Currency, in addition to the widespread use of vouchers issued by banks, is actually a disguised form of circulating banknotes. In 1865, the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation began to establish and issue banknotes in Hong Kong. Hong Kong dollar banknotes quickly became the main currency circulating in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, and replaced the Mexican silver dollar as the currency of exchange. Currency for trade. Even after
the Macau Pataca was officially issued, the Hong Kong dollar was still widely circulated in Macau and exceeded the local Macau Pataca in Macau's currency stock
.
In September 1905, the Macao-Portuguese government signed a contract with the Portuguese-owned Atlantic Bank, officially
authorizing the bank to print and issue banknotes in Macao, in Macau pataca units, with face values ??respectively. There are 6 types: 1 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 25 yuan, 50 yuan and 100 yuan. On January 19, 1906, the first batch of 1 yuan and 5 yuan banknotes began to circulate in Macao, and other banknotes of other denominations also came into circulation in the following year. Opened the history of Macau currency.
In 1902, the Portuguese-owned Atlantic Bank officially established a branch in Macau and also had the privilege of issuing banknotes in Macau.
The bank was founded in Lisbon, Portugal in 1864 and enjoys the patent rights to establish and operate banks and issue banknotes in Portugal's overseas territories. Macau is a region without a central bank. The Macau-Portuguese government has long entrusted the Bank of Macau to print and issue currency on its behalf. In 1980, the Macao-Portuguese government issued an order to establish an official public institution, the Macao Issuing Agency, and gave it the right to issue Macau pataca and manage Macao's foreign exchange reserves. The Atlantic Bank has become the only banknote issuance agent authorized by the Macau issuing agency. It is responsible for the issuance and recycling of Macau currency, but the issuance of coins is the responsibility of the Macau issuing agency.
. In 1989, the Macau and Portuguese government established the Macau Currency and Exchange Supervision Bureau to replace the Macau issuing agency, taking back the exclusive power of currency issuance and management. The government directly authorized Banco Atlantic to exercise the Macau issuance agency. Banknote agency functions and government treasury functions.
In October 1995, the Bank of China joined the ranks of banknote issuance in Macau, changing the situation in Macau
For a long time, foreign banks had a monopoly on banknote issuance, marking a new chapter in the history of banknote issuance in Macau< /p>
A new stage. According to the negotiations of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Liaison Group, within 15 years starting from October 16, 1995, the Macau Branch of the Bank of China and the Macau Atlantic Bank*** will issue banknotes simultaneously
, the amount of each banknote issuance is 50%. The total face value of the new Macau pataca banknotes issued by the Bank of China is 2.4875 billion yuan. After the contract expires, it can be amended, renewed or a new contract signed in accordance with the spirit of the joint statement
. This measure will play an important role in maintaining the stability of Macao's financial system and achieving a smooth transition.
Currently, the Macau Pataca, the legal currency of Macau, has six banknote denominations: 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 50 yuan, 100 yuan, 500 yuan and 1,000 yuan; There are six types: 1
millimeter, 2 millimeter, 5 millimeter, 1 yuan, 2 yuan, and 5 yuan. Since there is no foreign exchange control in Macau, currencies from various countries can be freely traded in and out of Macau, and there are also a variety of currencies circulating in Macau.
The Macau Pataca is the currency used for accounting and pricing in Macao. It is the most circulated in small transactions and sporadic use; however, in large transactions and foreign trade payments, it is generally used Settled in Hong Kong dollars,
The usage of Hong Kong dollars greatly exceeds that of Macau currency. In addition, foreign currencies such as British pound and Japanese yen are also circulated in Macao in small quantities.
Since the issuance of the Macau Pataca, its exchange rate system has undergone two major changes.
After the Macao currency was first circulated, it adopted a fixed exchange rate system pegged to the Portuguese currency Escudos. Based on the exchange rate of 1 Macau Pataca to 5 Escudos, then exchange it with
other currencies. After entering the 1970s, Portugal's political situation was turbulent and its economy was sluggish. The Escudo devalued many times, which seriously affected the stability and circulation of Macau's currency. In April 1977, the Macau pataca gave up the mechanism of linking it with the Escudo and changed it to be pegged to the Hong Kong dollar, stipulating that every 107.5 Macau patacas was exchanged for 100 Hong Kong dollars, and it was allowed to move up and down. Float 10%. Since then, the exchange rate of the Macau Pataca has been adjusted many times. Since the Hong Kong dollar adopted a freely floating exchange rate system at that time, the exchange rate between the Macau Pataca and foreign currencies also floated freely. In October 1983,
the Hong Kong dollar was converted to a linked exchange rate system pegged to the U.S. dollar, and the Macau pataca automatically followed the Hong Kong dollar and was pegged to the U.S. dollar
, forming a new fixed exchange rate system. So far, the Macau Pataca has maintained a fixed exchange rate with the Hong Kong dollar
. The Macanese patacas was therefore insulated from the recent financial turmoil in Southeast Asia.