Hong Kong Monetary Authority - Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

Press Releases

15 Mar 2004

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 February 2004, reporting an increase of HK$3.0 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$912.6 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$323.1 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$51.0 billion.

Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$1.1 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
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
15 March 2004

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

8 March (Issued)	SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
15 March	SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
26 March	Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
31 March	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)
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
31 December 2003	292,672	0	50,841	868,636	1,037
31 January 2004	330,055	0	63,377	909,576	1,128
29 February 2004	323,139	0	51,030	912,620	1,095

(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 March 2004

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