Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

30 May 2003

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$979.1 billion at 30 April 2003.

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 April 2003, the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$979.1 billion, were HK$19.4 billion higher than at the end of March 2003. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$21.1 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$1.7 billion.

The increase in foreign currency assets was mainly due to income from foreign currency assets, valuation gains on foreign currency investments and an increase in securities purchased but settled in the following month. The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to fiscal drawdowns 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 April 2003 was HK$251.8 billion, an increase of HK$0.9 billion, or 0.4%, from the end of March 2003. The increase was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness of HK$1.0 billion during the month.

The backing assets increased by HK$1.3 billion, or 0.4%, from HK$280.8 billion to HK$282.1 billion. The increase was mainly driven by the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the monetary base and income from investments together with revaluation gains. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased from 111.96%, at the end of March, to 112.03% at the end of April.

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
30 May 2003

 

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 May 2003, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 May
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 May
(Issued)
SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
30 May Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
30 May SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
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Last revision date : 30 May 2003