Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Friday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$2,539.5 billion as at 29 February 2012.

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 February 2012 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,539.5 billion, were HK$106.8 billion lower than at the end of January 2012.  Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$49.7 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$57.1 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was mainly due to decreases in unsettled purchases of securities and Certificates of Indebtedness.  These decreases were partly offset by purchases of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars and valuation gains on foreign currency investments. 

The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to a decrease in Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued but not yet settled, fiscal drawdowns and sales of Hong Kong dollars for foreign currencies.  These decreases were partly offset by valuation gains on Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of February 2012 was HK$1,081.4 billion, a decrease of HK$9.8 billion, or 0.9%, from the end of January 2012.  The decline was mainly due to a decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The Backing Assets decreased by HK$11.5 billion, or 1.0%, to HK$1,174.9 billion.  The decrease was mainly attributable to the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness and revaluation losses which were partly offset by interest from investments.  The backing ratio decreased from 108.72% at the end of January 2012 to 108.65% at the end of February 2012.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 March 2012

 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 March 2012, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: