Press Releases

Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (March 14) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of February 2002, reporting a decrease of HK$3.1 billion in the foreign assets of the Exchange Fund during the month.

Foreign assets, representing the external assets of the Exchange Fund, amounted to HK$829.5 billion.

The Monetary Base, comprising Certificates of Indebtedness and coins issued, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued, amounted to HK$237.8 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$53.6 billion.

Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$35.3 billion.

The balance sheet data of the Exchange Fund are released in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and are referred to as the Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank under SDDS (Annex 1).

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
14 March 2002

 

At present, four press releases relating to the Exchange Fund's data are issued by the HKMA each month. Three of these releases are issued to disseminate monetary data in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). The fourth press release, on the Exchange Fund's Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account, is made in accordance with the HKMA's policy of maintaining a high level of transparency. For the month of March, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 March (Issued)	SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 March	SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
28 March	Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
28 March	SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity

Annex 1

Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank
(in millions of Hong Kong dollars)

	Monetary Base (1)	Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government (2)	Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong (3)	Foreign Assets (4)	Foreign Liabilities (5)
28 February 2001	217,045	0	62,301	856,800	59,959
31 March 2001	216,681	0	46,394	856,380	65,115
30 April 2001	220,449	0	50,103	861,731	66,845
31 May 2001	217,210	0	51,778	858,038	68,691
30 June 2001	220,442	0	45,303	853,060	61,195
31 July 2001	219,825	0	43,732	857,961	52,749
31 August 2001	221,820	0	41,740	854,297	33,371
30 September 2001	228,419	0	38,049	853,095	22,713
31 October 2001	225,686	0	44,469	845,833	21,950
30 November 2001	225,750	0	61,880	836,460	48,453
31 December 2001	229,741	0	51,017	822,613	41,974
31 January 2002	236,033	0	58,658	832,643	39,923
28 February 2002	237,803	0	53,576	829,516	35,289

(1) The Monetary Base comprises Certificates of Indebtedness (for backing the currency notes) and coins issued, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued.

(2) Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government refer to any lending to the Government.

(3) Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong include bank deposits and investments in debt securities issued by public sector entities in Hong Kong held by the Exchange Fund.

(4) Foreign Assets represent the external assets of the Exchange Fund and exclude foreign currency deposits placed with banks in Hong Kong.

(5) Foreign Liabilities include obligations under repurchase agreements, securities lending with cash collateral arrangements and fees payable to the Exchange Fund's external managers.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
14 March 2002