Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

30 Jan 2004

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$1,011.2 billion at 31 December 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. The figures in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account are unaudited. The audit of the Exchange Fund's annual accounts by the Director of Audit is in progress.

At the end of December 2003, the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,011.2 billion, were HK$16.8 billion higher than at the end of November 2003. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$21.8 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$5.0 billion.

The increase in foreign currency assets was mainly due to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars and an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness. The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to the sale of Hong Kong dollars in exchange for foreign currencies and a decrease in bank borrowings. These decreases were partly offset by an increase in the balance of the banking system and placements received from fiscal reserves.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of December 2003 was HK$292.7 billion, an increase of HK$23.8 billion, or 8.9%, from the end of November 2003. The increase was mainly due to increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and in the Aggregate Balance.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$23.8 billion, or 8.0%, to HK$322.1 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the corresponding increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and the Aggregate Balance in the Monetary Base. At the end of December, the backing ratio stood at 110.05%, compared with 110.95% at the end of November.

While the increases in the Backing Assets and the Monetary Base were virtually matched in magnitude, the proportionate increase in the former is smaller than that in the latter. The backing ratio, therefore, declined to 110.05% at the end of December, compared with 110.95% a month ago.

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

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
30 January 2004

 

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 2004, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 January
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 January
(Issued)
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
Latest Press Releases
Last revision date : 03 August 2011