MACAO, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Macao's base rate of the discount window was raised by 25 basis points to 2.25 percent on Thursday, said the special administrative region's Monetary Authority.

The Monetary Authority of Macao said that as the pataca is linked to the Hong Kong dollar, the movements of policy rates in Hong Kong and Macao should be basically consistent to maintain the effective operation of the linked exchange rate system.

The Monetary Authority followed its Hong Kong counterpart to raise the base rate by 25 basis points, as the U.S. Federal Reserve raised the Fed funds rate target range by 25 basis points on Wednesday. The Hong Kong dollar is linked to the U.S. dollar under a similar linked exchange rate system.

Macao's local money-market interest rates have broadly moved up since the base rate was raised by 25 basis points to 2.0 percent on March 22.

It is expected that Macao banks would gradually adjust deposit and lending rates at the retail level along with the developments of the financial market and funding costs.