Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

Press Releases

07 Oct 2004

Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Thursday) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$118.4 billion at the end of September 2004 (end-August 2004: US$118.5 billion) (Table 1).

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of September 2004 also stood at US$118.4 billion (end-August 2004: US$118.5 billion).

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

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$118.4 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 45% of Hong Kong dollar M3.

Release calendar



The release calendar of foreign currency reserve assets for 2005 is announced below:

Reference Month     Release Date
January 2005        7 February 2005
February 2005       7 March 2005 
March 2005          7 April 2005 
April 2005          9 May 2005 
May 2005            7 June 2005 
June 2005           7 July 2005 
July 2005           8 August 2005 
August 2005         7 September 2005  
September 2005      7 October 2005 
October 2005        7 November 2005 
November 2005       7 December 2005 
December 2005       9 January 2006

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 October 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 October 2004, 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)
29 October Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
29 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
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
Oct 03 112.4 - 112.4
Nov 03 114.1 - 114.1
Dec 03 118.4 0.5 118.9
Jan 04 123.6 - 123.6
Feb 04 123.5 - 123.5
Mar 04 123.8 - 123.8
Apr 04 122.1 - 122.1
May 04 120.1 - 120.1
Jun 04 120.8 - 120.8
Ju1 04 118.3 - 118.3
Aug 04 118.5 - 118.5
Sep 04* 118.4 - 118.4

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 At end of
(1)

Japan

831.0 Sep 2004
(2)

Mainland China

470.6 Jun 2004
(3)

Taiwan

233.0 Sep 2004
(4)

Korea

174.4 Sep 2004
(5)

India

118.8 Sep 2004
(6)

Hong Kong

118.4 Sep 2004
(7)

Singapore

101.3 Aug 2004
(8)

Russia

95.1 Sep 2004
(9)

Germany

93.5 Aug 2004
(10)

US

82.3 Sep 2004

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

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Last revision date : 07 October 2004