Monetary Statistics for July 2007

According to statistics published today (Friday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions decreased by 2.0% in July 2007. While Hong Kong dollar deposits declined by 5.9%, foreign currency deposits rose by 2.8%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong dollar demand and time deposits shrank, but savings deposits expanded. Accounting for around 1.2% of total foreign currency deposits, renminbi deposits grew by 0.9% to RMB 27.9 billion yuan at the end of July.

Total loans and advances contracted by 4.8% during the month as the decrease in Hong Kong dollar loans exceeded the increase in foreign currency loans. Loans for use in Hong Kong declined by 6.0%, whereas loans for use outside Hong Kong grew by 2.2%. As Hong Kong dollar loans decreased at a faster rate than deposits, the Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio edged down to 72.9% at the end of July.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 declined by 3.1% in July but increased by 12.1% from a year earlier. Unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 both decreased by 5.5% during the month, partly reflecting a high base of comparison associated with equity initial public offering activities at the end of June. On a year-on-year comparison, however, Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 grew by 20.2% and 20.1% respectively.

Annex

For further enquiries, please contact:
Sara Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 August 2007