Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

25 Feb 2005

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$1,073.0 billion at 31 January 2005.

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

At the end of January 2005 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,073.0 billion, were HK$11.1 billion higher than at the end of December 2004. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$14.6 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$3.5 billion.

The increase in foreign currency assets was mainly due to increases in Certificates of Indebtedness, Government-issued currency notes, repurchase agreement outstanding and income from foreign currency assets. 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.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of January 2005 was HK$305.8 billion, an increase of HK$10.9 billion, or 3.7%, from the end of December 2004. The rise was mainly due to increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and in Government-issued currency notes, which were partly offset by a decrease in the market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes outstanding. The former reflected the seasonal demand for banknotes ahead of the Lunar New Year.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$12.9 billion, or 3.9%, to HK$340.2 billion. The rise was mainly attributable to the corresponding increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and in Government-issued currency notes in the Monetary Base together with income from investments and revaluation gains. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased from 110.99% at the end of December 2004 to 111.24% at the end of January 2005.

Attachment

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

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
25 February 2005

 

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 2005, 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)
25 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 : 25 February 2005