Monetary Statistics for February 2014

According to statistics published today (Monday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions grew by 1.6% in February 2014. As the expansion in demand and time deposits exceeded the contraction in savings deposits, Hong Kong-dollar deposits went up by 3.7% in February. Overall foreign-currency deposits decreased slightly by 0.4% in February, while renminbi deposits in Hong Kong increased by 3.0% to RMB920.3 billion at the end of February. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB394.1 billion in February, compared with RMB492.3 billion in January.

Total loans and advances rose by 3.2% in February. Loans for use in Hong Kong including trade finance climbed by 3.9% from a month ago, and loans for use outside Hong Kong increased by 1.4%. As Hong Kong-dollar loans grew at a slightly slower rate than deposits, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio edged down to 84.3% at the end of February from 84.4% at the end of January. 

Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 went up by 2.2% in February and rose by 5.8% year on year. Seasonally unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 grew by 3.2% during the month and expanded by 8.6% from a year earlier. 

Annex

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 March 2014