Monetary Statistics for September 2006

According to statistics published today (Tuesday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions increased by 2.2% in September 2006. Of the total, Hong Kong dollar deposits and foreign currency deposits rose by 3.3% and 0.9% respectively. Within foreign currency deposits, renminbi deposits decreased by 0.4% to RMB22.6 billion yuan in September.

Total loans and advances expanded by 1.7% in September. Of the total, loans for use in Hong Kong and outside Hong Kong rose by 0.9% and 7.3% respectively. While Hong Kong dollar loans advanced by 2.4%, foreign currency loans decreased by 0.6%. As the increase in Hong Kong dollar loans was smaller than the rise in Hong Kong dollar deposits, the Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio decreased slightly to 79.1% in September.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 grew by 1.3% in September and rose by 4.7% from a year earlier. Unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 both increased by 3.1% during the month. On a year-on-year comparison, Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 both rose by 16.3%.

Annex

Release Schedule of Monetary Statistics in Hong Kong

The monthly release schedule of monetary statistics in Year 2007 is as follows.

For further enquiries, please contact:
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 October 2006