The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Monday) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$130.3 billion at the end of September 2006 (end-August 2006: US$128.9 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of September 2006 also stood at US$130.3 billion (end- August 2006: US$128.9 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's seventh largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Korea and India (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$130.3 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 39% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
Release calendar
The release calendar of foreign currency reserve assets for 2007 is announced below:
Reference Month | Release Date |
January 2007 | 7 February 2007 |
February 2007 | 7 March 2007 |
March 2007 | 11 April 2007 |
April 2007 | 7 May 2007 |
May 2007 | 7 June 2007 |
June 2007 | 9 July 2007 |
July 2007 | 7 August 2007 |
August 2007 | 7 September 2007 |
September 2007 | 8 October 2007 |
October 2007 | 7 November 2007 |
November 2007 | 7 December 2007 |
December 2007 | 7 January 2008 |
For further enquiries, please contact:
Ying-ying Cheng, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
9 October 2006
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 2006, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
9 October | SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures) |
16 October | SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund) |
27 October | Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account |
31 October | SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity |