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

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07 Oct 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$112.1 billion at the end of September 2003 (end-August 2003: US$111.8 billion) (Table 1).

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of September 2003 also stood at US$112.1 billion (end-August 2003: US$111.4 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$112.1 billion represent about seven times the currency in circulation or 43% of Hong Kong dollar M3.

Release calendar

The release calendar of foreign currency assets for 2004 is announced below:

Reference Month	Release Date
January 2004	9 February 2004
February 2004	8 March 2004
March 2004	7 April 2004
April 2004	7 May 2004
May 2004	7 June 2004
June 2004	7 July 2004
July 2004	9 August 2004
August 2004	7 September 2004
September 2004	7 October 2004
October 2004	8 November 2004
November 2004	7 December 2004
December 2004	7 January 2005

For further enquiries, please contact:

Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

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

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

Jan 03	115.6	-	115.6
Feb 03	113.7	-	113.7
Mar 03	113.6	-	113.6
Apr 03	114.2	-	114.2
May 03	116.1	-	116.1
Jun 03	114.4	(0.2)	114.2
Jul 03	112.6	-	112.6
Aug 03	111.8	(0.4)	111.4
Sep 03 *	112.1	-	112.1

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.

* The latest monthly figures are preliminary and subject to change.

Table 2

Official Reserves Ranking

		US$ billion	As at end of
(1)	Japan	604.9	Sep 2003
(2)	Mainland China	364.7	Aug 2003
(3)	Taiwan	190.6	Sep 2003
(4)	Korea	141.5	Sep 2003
(5)	Hong Kong	112.1	Sep 2003
(6)	Germany	92.0	Aug 2003
(7)	India	89.3	Sep 2003
(8)	Singapore	87.8	Aug 2003
(9)	US	82.1	Sep 2003
(10)	Switzerland	66.1	Sep 2003

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

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