Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

28 Feb 2003

Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Friday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$975.7 billion as at 31 January 2003.

The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released on a monthly basis together with the Currency Board Account.

At the end of January 2003, the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$975.7 billion, were HK$20.6 billion higher than at the end of December 2002. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$23.0 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$2.4 billion.

The increase in foreign currency assets was mainly due to increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and the amount of repurchase agreements outstanding. The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to a decrease in bank borrowings and valuation losses in the market value of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund which were partly offset by placements received from fiscal reserves.

Figures in the Currency Board Account show that the monetary base at the end of January 2003 was HK$265.3 billion, an increase of HK$19.2 billion, or 7.8%, from the end of December 2002. The increase was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness, mainly reflecting the seasonal demand for cash ahead of the Lunar New Year.

The backing assets increased by HK$19.3 billion, or 7.0%, from HK$275.8 billion to HK$295.1 billion. The rise was mainly driven by the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the monetary base. At the end of January 2003, the backing ratio stood at 111.24%, against 112.07% at the end of December 2002.

Attachment

Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund
Annex 2 : Currency Board Account

For further enquiries, please contact:

Sylvia Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
28 February 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 February 2003, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 February
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 February
(Issued)
SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
28 February Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
28 February SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
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Last revision date : 28 February 2003