Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Tuesday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$2,232.1 billion on 31 July 2010.

The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released monthly together with the Currency Board Account.

At the end of July 2010 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,232.1 billion, were HK$4.2 billion higher than at the end of June 2010. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$1.3 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$5.5 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was mainly due to a decrease in unsettled purchases of securities, which was partly offset by valuation gains on foreign currency investments. The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to valuation gains on Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of July 2010 was HK$1,024.9 billion, an increase of HK$1.3 billion, or 0.1%, from the end of June 2010. The rise was mainly due to increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes outstanding.

The Backing Assets decreased by HK$1.4 billion, or 0.1%, to HK$1,106.2 billion. The decrease was mainly attributable to exchange loss triggered by a stronger Hong Kong dollar which was partly offset by interest from investments and the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness. The backing ratio decreased from 108.20% at the end of June 2010 to 107.93% at the end of July 2010.

Attachment
Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund
Annex 2 : Currency Board Account

For media enquiries, please contact:
Peggy Lo, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1687 or
Natalie Wu, Officer (Communications), at 2878 8246

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 August 2010

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 August 2010, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: