Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

Press Releases

15 Dec 2003

Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (Monday) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of November 2003, reporting an increase of HK$7.1 billion in the foreign assets of the Exchange Fund during the month.

Foreign assets, representing the external assets of the Exchange Fund, amounted to HK$833 billion.

The Monetary Base, comprising Certificates of Indebtedness, Government-issued currency notes and coins in circulation, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued, amounted to HK$268.8 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$59.6 billion.

Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$7.3 billion.

The balance sheet data of the Exchange Fund are released in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and are referred to as the Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank under SDDS (Annex).

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
15 December 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 December, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

8 December
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
15 December SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
24 December Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
31 December SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity

Annex

Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank

(in millions of Hong Kong dollars)

Monetary
Base (1)
Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government (2) Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong (3) Foreign
Assets (4)
Foreign
Liabilities (5)
30 November 2002 241,373 0 51,514 818,958 11,246
31 December 2002 246,106 0 41,657 832,881 1,654
31 January 2003 265,261 0 51,391 851,607 9,152
28 February 2003 251,873 0 43,388 845,743 12,455
31 March 2003 250,843 0 45,208 845,724 12,471
30 April 2003 251,773 0 54,840 838,231 5,572
31 May 2003 252,693 0 51,978 857,477 4,733
30 June 2003 253,960 0 55,540 841,767 4,934
31 July 2003 253,118 0 55,241 824,662 12,969
31 August 2003 255,006 0 53,409 819,243 15,712
30 September 2003 257,895 0 44,201 824,606 9,636
31 October 2003 260,281 0 47,512 825,907 7,432
30 November 2003 268,824 0 59,579 832,974 7,323

 

(1) The Monetary Base comprises Certificates of Indebtedness (for backing the currency notes), Government-issued currency notes and coins in circulation, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued.

(2) Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government refer to any lending to the Government.

(3) Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong include bank deposits and investments in debt securities issued by public sector entities in Hong Kong held by the Exchange Fund.

(4) Foreign Assets represent the external assets of the Exchange Fund and exclude foreign currency deposits placed with banks in Hong Kong.

(5) Foreign Liabilities include obligations under repurchase agreements, securities lending with cash collateral arrangements and fees payable to the Exchange Fund's external managers.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
15 December 2003

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Last revision date : 15 December 2003