Macao's accumulated fiscal reserves reached 30.59 billion patacas (US$3.8 billion) at the end of 2006, local media reported Wednesday.

The Macao Post Daily quoted Francis Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for Economy and Finance, as saying that the government's budget produced a surplus of 9.83 billion patacas (US$1.23 billion) in 2006.

The city's blossoming gaming industry dedicated a 20.62-billion-patacas (US$2.58) tax payment to the government in 2006, the finance chief told the newspaper.

The government spent 4.34 billion patacas (US$543 million) on public investment in the past year, the official was cited.

The city has a population of 528,000.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2007)