Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

31 Dec 2013

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$2,950.0 billion as at 30 November 2013, HK$29.4 billion higher than that at the end of October 2013.  Foreign currency assets increased by HK$11.1 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$18.3 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to purchases of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars.  The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to placements received from fiscal reserves and valuation gains on Hong Kong equities.  These increases were partly offset by sales of Hong Kong dollars for foreign currencies.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of November 2013 was HK$1,245.5 billion, increased by HK$1.5 billion, or 0.1%, from the end of October 2013.  The rise was due to an increase in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets increased by HK$1.4 billion, or 0.1%, to HK$1,340.3 billion.  The rise was attributable to an increase in assets connected with the issuance of additional Certificates of Indebtedness.  The backing ratio decreased from 107.63% at the end of October 2013 to 107.61% at the end of November 2013.

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

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

6 December
(Issued)

SDDS International Reserves
(Hong Kong’s Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)

13 December
(Issued)

SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund)

31 December

Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

31 December

SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity

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Last revision date : 31 December 2013