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$3,807.4 billion as at 31 May 2017, HK$23.6 billion lower than that at the end of April 2017. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$14.7 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$8.9 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was mainly due to a decrease in unsettled purchases of securities, which was partly offset by mark-to-market gains on foreign currency portfolios and the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars. The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to withdrawals of placements by Fiscal Reserves and sale of Hong Kong dollars for foreign currencies, which were partly offset by the increase in market value of Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of May 2017 was HK$1,657.0 billion, decreased by HK$3.6 billion, or 0.2%, from the end of April 2017. The decline was mainly due to the decrease in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets increased by HK$1.4 billion, or 0.1%, to HK$1,781.1 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to exchange gains and interest from investments, which were partly offset by the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness. The backing ratio increased from 107.18% at the end of April 2017 to 107.49% at the end of May 2017. 

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 June 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 June 2017, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: