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$2,886.1 billion as at 31 March 2013.

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 March 2013 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,886.1 billion, were HK$9.7 billion lower than at the end of February 2013.  Foreign currency assets increased by HK$5.2 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$14.9 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to valuation gains on foreign currency investments.  The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to fiscal drawdowns and valuation losses on Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of March 2013 was HK$1,242.3 billion, an increase of HK$9.6 billion, or 0.78%, from the end of February 2013.  The rise was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$11.1 billion, or 0.83%, to HK$1,342.9 billion.  The increase was mainly attributable to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness and exchange gain amid a stronger US dollar.  The backing ratio increased from 108.04% at the end of February 2013 to 108.10% at the end of March 2013.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 April 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 April 2013, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: