Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

Press Releases

16 Aug 2004

Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (Monday) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of July 2004, reporting a decrease of HK$22.8 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$870.7 billion.

The Monetary Base, comprising Certificates of Indebtedness, Government-issued currency notes and coins in circulation, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued, amounted to HK$281.0 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$52.6 billion.

Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$7.3 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).

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
16 August 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 August, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

9 August
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
16 August SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
27 August Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
31 August SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity

Annex

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)
31 July 2003 253,118 0 55,241 824,662 12,969
31 August 2003 255,006 0 53,409 819,243 15,712
30 September 2003 257,895 0 44,201 824,606 9,636
31 October 2003 260,281 0 47,512 825,907 7,432
30 November 2003 268,824 0 59,579 832,974 7,323
31 December 2003 292,672 0 50,841 868,636 1,037
31 January 2004 330,055 0 63,377 909,576 1,128
29 February 2004 323,139 0 51,030 912,620 1,095
31 March 2004 322,272 0 53,421 913,334 926
30 April 2004 323,503 0 57,311 899,129 495
31 May 2004 303,582 0 50,854 889,863 2,921
30 June 2004 305,310 0 52,471 893,482 2,290
31 July 2004 280,990 0 52,558 870,685 7,274

 

(1) The Monetary Base comprises Certificates of Indebtedness (for backing the currency notes), Government-issued currency notes and coins in circulation, 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
16 August 2004

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Last revision date : 16 August 2004