Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Thursday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$2,782.2 billion as at 31 December 2012.

The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released monthly together with the Currency Board Account.  The figures in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and the Currency Board Account are unaudited.  The audit of the Exchange Fund’s annual financial statements by the Director of Audit is in progress.

At the end of December 2012 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,782.2 billion, were HK$133.9 billion higher than at the end of November 2012.  Foreign currency assets increased by HK$104.5 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$29.4 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to purchases of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars, an increase in Certificate of Indebtedness and valuation gains on foreign currency investments.  The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to an increase in Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued but not yet settled.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of December 2012 was HK$1,217.3 billion, an increase of HK$81.4 billion, or 7.2%, from the end of November 2012.  The rise was mainly due to increases in the Aggregate Balance and Certificates of Indebtedness.  The latter reflected the seasonal demand for banknotes around Christmas and New Year.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$80.6 billion, or 6.5%, to HK$1,315.5 billion.  The increase was mainly attributable to an increase in the Aggregate Balance, the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness and interest from investments which were partly offset by revaluation losses.  The backing ratio decreased from 108.72% at the end of November 2012 to 108.07% at the end of December 2012.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 January 2013

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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 January 2013, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: