Monetary Statistics for January 2009

According to statistics published today (Friday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions declined by 1.2% in January 2009. Hong Kong-dollar deposits declined by 0.3% during the month, as the contraction in time deposits exceeded the rise in demand and savings deposits. Foreign-currency deposits also declined by 2.0% in January. Accounting for around 2.1% of foreign-currency deposits, renminbi deposits in Hong Kong declined by 3.0% to RMB54.4 billion at the end of January.

Total loans and advances shrank by 0.5% in January. Loans for use in Hong Kong decreased by 0.4% and loans for use outside Hong Kong declined by 1.1%. In contrast, loans in Hong Kong dollars increased by 0.5%. Because Hong Kong-dollar loans expanded while deposits contracted, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio rose to 78.3% at the end of January 2009 from 77.6% at the end of December 2008.

Seasonally-adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 rose by 5.2% in January and increased by 12.2% from a year earlier. Unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 climbed by 0.1% during the month and grew by 0.4% year on year.

Annex

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
27 February 2009