Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Friday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$3,764.8 billion as at 31 March 2017, HK$60.2 billion lower than that at the end of February 2017. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$18.0 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$78.2 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars. The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to the decrease in Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued but not yet settled and sale of Hong Kong dollars for foreign currencies.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of March 2017 was HK$1,650.6 billion, increased by HK$1.3 billion, or 0.1%, from the end of February 2017. The rise was mainly due to the increase in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets increased by HK$3.6 billion, or 0.2%, to HK$1,766.4 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness, exchange gains and interest from investments. The backing ratio increased from 106.87% at the end of February 2017 to 107.01% at the end of March 2017.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
28 April 2017

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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 2017, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: