Hong Kong Monetary Authority - Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

Press Releases

07 Jan 2003

Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Tuesday) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$111.9 billion at the end of December 2002 (end-November 2002: US$111.0 billion) (Table 1).

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of December　2002 also stood at US$111.9 billion (end-November 2002: US$111.0 billion).

In terms of foreign currency reserves ranking, Hong Kong is the world's fifth largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan and Korea (Table 2).

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$111.9 billion represent over seven times the currency in circulation or about 43% of Hong Kong dollar M3, one of the highest ratios in the world.

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
7 January 2003

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 January 2003, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

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

Table 1

Foreign Currency Reserve Assets of Hong Kong

(US$ billion)

	Excluding Unsettled FX Contracts	Unsettled FX Contracts	Including Unsettled FX Contracts
Dec 95	55.4	1.8	57.2
Dec 96	63.8	5.7	69.6
Dec 97	92.8	0.4	93.2
Dec 98	89.6	-	89.6
Dec 99	96.3	-	96.3
Dec 00	107.5	-	107.5

Jan 01	111.5	-	111.5
Feb 01	114.3	-	114.3
Mar 01	114.6	-	114.6
Apr 01	115.1	-	115.1
May 01	114.7	-	114.7
Jun 01	114.1	-	114.1
Jul 01	114.6	-	114.6
Aug 01	113.7	-	113.7
Sep 01	113.4	-	113.4
Oct 01	113.1	-	113.1
Nov 01	112.3	-	112.3
Dec 01	111.2	-	111.2

Jan 02	111.3	-	111.3
Feb 02	111.3	-	111.3
Mar 02	110.2	-	110.2
Apr 02	110.9	-	110.9
May 02	111.3	-	111.3
Jun 02	112.4	-	112.4
Jul 02	112.5	-	112.5
Aug 02	112.3	(0.2)	112.1
Sep 02	111.2	-	111.2
Oct 02	110.6	-	110.6
Nov 02	111.0	-	111.0
Dec 02	111.9	-	111.9

Figures for the end of 1995 and 1996 do not include Land Fund figures. The Land Fund was established on 1 July 1997 and its foreign currency reserve assets were included thereafter in the above compilation. The assets of the Land Fund were merged into the Exchange Fund in November 1998.

Table 2

Official Reserves Ranking

		US$ billion	As at end of
(1)	Japan	460.5	Nov 2002
(2)	Mainland China	286.4	Dec 2002
(3)	Taiwan	161.7	Dec 2002
(4)	Korea	121.4	Dec 2002
(5)	Hong Kong	111.9	Dec 2002
(6)	Germany	87.0	Nov 2002
(7)	Singapore	80.2	Nov 2002
(8)	US	77.3	Dec 2002
(9)	India	70.3	Dec 2002
(10)	France	60.0	Nov 2002

Sources : HKMA, Reuters, websites of International Monetary Fund, People's Bank of China

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