Monetary Statistics for March 2015

According to statistics published today (Thursday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions grew by 2.5% in March 2015. With demand, savings and time deposits increasing, Hong Kong-dollar deposits went up by 6.8% during the month. Overall foreign-currency deposits declined by 1.3% in March. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong decreased by 2.2% to RMB952.0 billion at the end of March. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB616.2 billion in March, compared with RMB462.0 billion in February.

Total loans and advances grew by 3.6% in March.  The loan growth in March 2015 was mainly driven by initial public offering (IPO) loans (around HK$200 billion) straddling the end of March.  Excluding IPO loans, the loan growth in March would have been 0.8%. Among the total, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) rose by 4.7%, and loans for use outside Hong Kong increased by 1.0%.  As Hong Kong-dollar loans increased at a faster pace than deposits, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio edged up to 83.1% at the end of March from 83.0% at the end of February.

In the first quarter of 2015, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) grew by 5.5% after declining by 0.7% in the previous quarter. Analysed by economic use, the quarterly expansion in loans was mainly led by loans to stockbrokers, trade finance, and residential mortgage loans.

Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 declined by 0.9% in March and grew by 7.8% year on year. Seasonally unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 rose by 6.0% during the month and expanded by 15.2% from a year earlier. 

Annex

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 April 2015