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$992.2 billion as at 30 September 2001.

The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released on a monthly basis together with the Currency Board Account.

At the end of September 2001, the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$992.2 billion, were HK$8.2 billion lower than at the end of August 2001. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$1.2 billion. However, Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$9.4 billion.

The increase in foreign currency assets was due mainly to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness arising from increased note issuance, income from foreign currency assets and valuation gains on foreign currency investments, which were partly offset by a decrease in the amounts of repurchase agreements outstanding.

The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to the decrease in market value of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund and the reductions in placements by other government funds, which were partly offset by an increase in bank borrowings.

Figures in the Currency Board Account show that the monetary base at the end of September 2001 was HK$228.4 billion, an increase of HK$6.6 billion, or 3.0%, from the end of August 2001. The increase was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness of HK$5.5 billion during the month.

The backing assets increased by HK$7.3 billion, or 3.0%, from HK$247.1 billion to HK$254.4 billion. The rise was mainly driven by the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the monetary base, and income from investments together with revaluation gains of HK$1.8 billion. As the end of September, the backing ratio stood at 111.36%, compared to 111.39% at the end of August.

Attachment

Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund

Annex 2 : Currency Board Account

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press) at 2878 8246, or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press) at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
26 October 2001

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 October 2001, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: