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$159.9 billion at the end of January 2008 (end-December 2007: US$152.7 billion) (Table 1).

The US$7.2 billion increase in settled foreign currency assets in the month of January was due mainly to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars and an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness, the latter reflecting the seasonal demand for banknotes around the Lunar New Year.

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of January 2008 also stood at US$159.9 billion (end-December 2007: US$152.7 billion).

Hong Kong is the world's ninth largest holder of foreign currency reserves based on the latest published figures, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, India, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil and Singapore (Table 2).

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$159.9 billion represent about seven times the currency in circulation or 38% of Hong Kong dollar M3.

Tables 1 & 2

For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
11 February 2008

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 2008, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: