Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

Press Releases

15 Nov 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 October 2004, reporting an increase of HK$22.9 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$882.2 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$282.6 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$48.8 billion.

Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$0.9 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:

Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
15 November 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 November 2004, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

8 November
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
15 November SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
26 November Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
30 November 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)

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

31 March 2004

322,272

0

53,421

913,334

926

30 April 2004

323,503

0

57,311

899,129

495

31 May 2004

303,582

0

50,854

889,863

2,921

30 June 2004

305,310

0

52,471

893,482

2,290

31 July 2004

280,990

0

52,558

870,685

7,274

31 August 2004

277,738

0

67,613

856,748

5,880

30 September 2004

278,711

0

64,534

859,233

3,681

31 October 2004

282,628

0

48,790

882,176

866

(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 November 2004

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Last revision date : 15 November 2004