Foreign exchange reserves reach over MOP140 billion

Macau’s foreign exchange reserves reached MOP144.6 billion in July, showing an increase of 0.4 percent from the previous month. The Monetary Authority of Macau said that the city’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of July represented 13 times the amount of currency in circulation.
The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency’s exchange rates against the currencies of Macau’s major trading partners, rose 0.76 points month-to-month and 7.43 points year-on-year to 104.75 in July 2015.

Anti-drug law revision to enter legislature before year-end

Anyone in the region found in possession of drugs will be punished in the future, revealed the Social Welfare Bureau in its amendment of the existing anti-drug regulations, which could reach the Legislative Assembly to be discussed within the year. Hon Wai, head of the anti-drug department of the Bureau, said the Legal Affairs Bureau has offered their opinions on the revision which, aside from the above addition, will grant greater authorization to police investigators in collecting evidence, as well as tightening penalties and jail terms for drug users and sellers. The new minimum imprisonment for drug vendors is expected to be increased to five years from three years previously. It was also said that the current version of the law contained no specific definitions for certain scenarios, indirectly opening loopholes for the criminals.

Local student wins Microsoft Office Olympic

Macau’s five-person student delegation returned with three awards last Saturday from the 2015 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship and the Adobe Certified Associate World Championship, both of which were held in Dallas, USA. Out of 145 young contestants from across the globe, local high school student Chao Ka Hei took home the honor of world champion, specializing in Microsoft Excel 2010. The annual championship was established to gauge students’ skills in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Last year, Macau’s Chan Ian Weng and Lo Kin Ian were also announced the MS Office world champions in Word 2010 and Excel 2010 respectively.