Author: Xie Yongping. : F62/ Financial and Insurance DocumentNo. 1-885
The original source is Southern Finance and Economics.
The original issue number was 1999 1 1.
Classification number F62
Finance and insurance
Copy issue number 200002
Macao currency exchange rate system
Author Xie Yongping
Upper guide bearing
Since Macao issued its own currency, the Macao pataca, in 1906, after a long period of evolution and development, it has gradually formed a currency exchange rate system similar to the Hong Kong currency board, which has played an important role in the stability and development of Macao's economy. The purpose of this paper is to briefly introduce the currency exchange rate system in Macao.
I. Historical evolution of Macao's currency issuance
Macao issued its own currency as early as 1906. Prior to this, from the opening of 1535 to the end of 18, China currency was mainly used in Macau, including silver dollar and copper dollar. From the19th century, Mexican silver dollar gradually circulated in Macao, becoming the main commercial exchange currency in Macao. At the same time, vouchers issued by banks are also widely used among the people. By 1865, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was established in Hong Kong and issued Hong Kong banknotes. Due to the deep influence of HSBC in Chinese mainland and the public's trust, Hong Kong dollar banknotes quickly circulated in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and replaced Mexican silver dollar as the main currency of Macau.
For the needs of colonial rule, the Portuguese government tried to change the situation of foreign currency circulation in Macao from 190 1. 190 1 year1year1October 30th, Atlantic Bank, which enjoys the patent right to set up and operate banks and issue bank notes in overseas territories of Portugal, signed contracts with Australian and Portuguese governments to set up branches in Macao and has the privilege to issue bank notes in Macao. On August 8th, 1902, Atlantic Bank formally established a branch in Macau. 1905, the Australian and Portuguese governments officially authorized Atlantic Bank to issue six denominations of 1 yuan, 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 25 yuan, 50 yuan and 100 yuan. 190665438+1 October19, the first batch of1yuan and 5 yuan banknotes began to circulate in Macau, thus beginning the history of the issuance of Macao patacas.
At the beginning of its issuance, the Macao pataca was not accepted by Macao citizens and could only be used as a small payment currency in daily transactions. When citizens receive MOP banknotes, most of them will go to the bank to change them into silver dollars in the form of "discount", so until 19 14, the total circulation of MOP is only about 92,000 yuan.
Until later, influenced by Chinese mainland War, the inflow of silver dollars and Hong Kong dollars into Macau gradually decreased, and the demand for money was in short supply. In this case, the Portuguese government issued Decree No.200 1. 1929 17 154, prohibiting the circulation of foreign silver dollars in Macao, and determining the Macao pataca as the legal tender. 1943, the Australian and Portuguese governments further legislated to abolish the silver share. Under the joint action of these factors, the situation that the Macao pataca was not accepted gradually changed, the circulation and circulation scope continued to expand, and its status as legal tender was gradually established.
1980, the Macao government established the "Macao Issuer (IEM)" to recover the right to issue banknotes from Atlantic Bank. After that, the Macao issuer reached an agreement with the Atlantic Bank, and designated the Atlantic Bank as the sole agent bank of the institution, responsible for issuing and recycling MOP banknotes, and the issuer was responsible for issuing coins.
Since the issuer in Macao is only a "public enterprise" rather than an administrative organ of the Australian government, during the operation of IEM, although the credit status of the Macao pataca has improved, the Macao government's ability to control the issuance and circulation of the Macao pataca is still weak. In order to improve this situation, the Macao government reorganized the financial system again in 1989, and reorganized Macao's issuing institutions into administrative agencies directly under the Australian government. At the same time, the Macao government directly authorized Atlantic Bank as the agent issuing bank through the contract.
By June 1995, 10 With the approach of Macao's return to sovereignty in June 1999, the Australian government signed new agency note issuing contracts with Bank of China and Atlantic Bank. The two banks were authorized by the SAR government from199510/0/016 (1999120 February) to 20/kloc-0 respectively. According to the contract, the two banks each bear half of the currency circulation, while the coins are issued by the monetary and foreign exchange supervision institutions on behalf of the government. At present, there are five kinds of banknotes in circulation in the market: 20 yuan, 50 yuan, 100 yuan, 500 yuan and 1000 yuan.
Second, the evolution of Macao's currency exchange rate
Since Macao's currency was issued, its exchange rate system can be roughly divided into three periods. (a) From 1906 to 1977, the period of escudo's fixed linked exchange rate system; (2) the adjustment period of the linked exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar from 1977 to 1983; (3) 1983 Up to now, the Hong Kong dollar and the US dollar have also adopted the linked exchange rate, so the Macao dollar suddenly established a fixed linked exchange rate indirectly with the US dollar.
1906 MOP was issued and circulated, linked to Portuguese currency, based on the exchange rate of 1 MOP to MOP 5, and then exchanged with other currencies. At the same time, an unofficial exchange rate of 1: 1 has been maintained between the Macao pataca and the Hong Kong dollar.
By the 1970s, due to political turmoil and the weakness of Portugal, the value of the pataca was also declining. On April 3rd 1974, the pataca fell to 104.7 yuan 100 Hong Kong dollars. 1976 100 Hong Kong dollars once fell to 12 1. As Macao's economy is increasingly dependent on Hong Kong, the exchange rate between Macao and Hong Kong currencies is becoming more and more important compared with the official linked exchange rates of Macao and Portugal. The exchange rate confusion between Macao and Hong Kong caused by the weak local currency has caused Macao citizens to sell Macao patacas and buy Hong Kong dollars. At the beginning of 1977, due to the continuous depreciation of the Scottish dollar, the Macao dollar was forced to stop trading for more than 40 days. By March, the Scottish dollar had depreciated sharply 15%. Due to the situation, the Macao government finally announced on April 7 that the Macao pataca was decoupled from the Macao pataca and linked to the Hong Kong dollar, stipulating that every 107.5 pataca was exchanged for 100 Hong Kong dollar, and allowed to float up and down 1%. This change made the pataca appreciate by 38% relative to the foreign exchange rate, and more importantly, declared the end of the exchange rate era linked to the foreign exchange rate.
In the late 1970s, with the development of Macao's export processing industry, export growth and foreign trade surplus, the Macao government accumulated more foreign exchange reserves, while the Hong Kong dollar began to weaken in the foreign exchange market in the same period. In this case, 1978 1000.25 on February 30th, the Macao government suddenly announced the exchange of Macao patacas with Hong Kong dollars, and the exchange rate was adjusted to 100.25. As a result, a currency chaos was induced, and citizens converted Macao dollars into Hong Kong dollars one after another, forming a run. Under great pressure, the bank had to suspend the business of Macao dollar against Hong Kong dollar. The government was forced to adjust the exchange rate to 65,438+000 Hong Kong dollars to 65,438+004.25 Macao dollars. After several adjustments, the official exchange rate was actually pegged at 65,438+003.75 MOP/HK$ 65,438+000 at 1979 10/2 October.
This exchange rate was accepted by the market and remained stable for four years. Until 1983, Hong Kong speculators took advantage of the uncertainty of Hong Kong's future to speculate on the Hong Kong dollar, and the value of the Hong Kong dollar fell sharply. On September 24th, the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar fell to a historical low of 9.4 Hong Kong dollars 1 US dollar, and the whole monetary system was shaken. On September 26th, the Macao government announced that it would adjust the currency exchange rate between Macao and Hong Kong to 99.9 Australian dollars 100 Hong Kong dollars, which triggered another wave of bank runs. The citizens sold Macao patacas to exchange Hong Kong dollars on a large scale, and the bank did not have enough cash to exchange Hong Kong dollars, so the exchange business was suspended for only half a day. On September 27th, the issuer of Macao announced the restoration of the original exchange rate, and the run-off tide subsided again. However, this caused the Atlantic Bank to lose MOP 2 million.
After that, the Macao government learned the lessons from the failure of the two exchanges and realized the importance of maintaining and stabilizing the exchange rate of the Macao dollar against the Hong Kong dollar. The official central exchange rate of MOP against HK$ has been maintained at 65,438+003 MOP against HK$ 65,438+000. In addition, on June 65, 438+09, 838+00, 65, 438+07, Hong Kong announced the realization of the linked exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar. Since then, the exchange rate system of the Macao pataca has entered a period of fixed linked exchange rate system with the Hong Kong dollar, and since the Hong Kong dollar and the US dollar also adopt the linked exchange rate, the Macao pataca has actually established a fixed linked exchange rate with the US dollar.