Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

Press Releases

07 Mar 2005

Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Monday) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$123.9 billion at the end of February 2005 (end-January 2005: US$124.7 billion) (Table 1).

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of February 2005 also stood at US$123.9 billion (end-January 2005: US$124.2 billion).

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

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$123.9 billion represent about six times the currency in circulation or 44% of Hong Kong dollar M3.

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 March 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 March 2005, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 March SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 March SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
31 March Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
31 March 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
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
Oct 04 119.5 0.5 120.0
Nov 04 121.5 - 121.5
Dec 04 123.6 - 123.6
       
Jan 05 124.7 (0.5) 124.2
Feb 05* 123.9 - 123.9

 

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 840.6 Feb 2005
(2) Mainland China 609.9 Dec 2004
(3) Taiwan 246.6 Feb 2005
(4) Korea 202.2 Feb 2005
(5) India 135.7 Feb 2005
(6) Russia 134.2 Feb 2005
(7) Hong Kong 123.9 Feb 2005
(8) Singapore 112.0 Jan 2005
(9) Germany 96.7 Jan 2005
(10) US 79.8 Feb 2005

 

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

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Last revision date : 07 March 2005