## Currency Notes — Two Patacas (Macao)

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**Canonical URL:** [Currency Notes — Two Patacas (Macao)](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2025/06/cn.pdf)

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### Banknote issuance and history
- While still under Portuguese rule in 1901, the colonial government gave the Banco Nacional Ultramarino the exclusive right to print pataca banknotes.
- As part of the negotiations that led to the Chinese handover in 1999, a second commercial bank, the Bank of China, was also authorized to issue legal tender.
- Today both banks share the right to print banknotes, each producing different yet equally elegant new versions of the 20-pataca note.
- The Banco Nacional Ultramarino is described as 161-year-old in the source.

### Design elements — Bank of China 20-pataca note
- Front: features a Southern lion, a fixture of the Spring Festival; the lion represents openness, inclusiveness, and determination to forge ahead, according to the Bank of China.
- Visuals: the Bank of China’s 160-meter-high local branch building appears behind the lion in a vivid violet spread.
- Additional motif: a flowering lotus, Macao’s floral emblem, representing prosperity.
- Reverse: features Macao’s science center, designed by architect I. M. Pei, and its planetarium where 3D constellation exhibits are beamed onto a domed ceiling, nodding to the region’s science and technology scene.

### Design elements — Banco Nacional Ultramarino 20-pataca note
- Theme: explores Macao’s maritime roots.
- Imagery: old and new facades of the bank’s headquarters and a map of Macao from 1780.
- Decoration: sampans and sailing junks, a compass, lotus flowers, and a banyan tree.
- Cartographic emphasis: uses cartographic imagery to chart the port city’s evolution across centuries of seafaring history, according to De La Rue, the company that designed the note.

### Cultural and economic context
- Governance: Macao operates its own legal, economic, and administrative systems under the “one country, two systems” framework.
- Geography and population density: Macao covers only 12.7 square miles and is one of the world’s most densely populated places.
- Income and economy:
  - Per capita income of about $67,500 a year.
  - Economy is driven primarily by tourism and gaming, earning it the title “world’s casino capital.”
- Cultural blend: Macao’s blend of Chinese and Portuguese cultures makes it a unique melting pot where old meets new, and East meets West.
- The 20-pataca note is presented as honoring the city’s enduring traditions while celebrating its continuing leaps into the future.

*Source: F&D — Currency Notes, June 2025 (Macao Two-patacas feature).*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2025/06/cn.pdf_