Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

24 Dec 2004

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$1,073.8 billion at 30 November 2004.

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

At the end of November 2004 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,073.8 billion, were HK$43.3 billion higher than at the end of October 2004. Both foreign currency assets and Hong Kong dollar assets increased, by HK$34.4 billion and HK$8.9 billion respectively.

The increase in foreign currency assets was mainly due to an increase in securities purchase but settled in the following month, purchases of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars, income from foreign currency assets and valuation gains on foreign currency investments.

The increase in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to an increase in the balance of the banking system, placements received from fiscal reserves and valuation gains in the market value of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund. These increases were partly offset by a decrease in bank borrowings and the sale of Hong Kong dollars for foreign currencies.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of November 2004 was HK$288.4 billion, an increase of HK$5.7 billion, or 2.0%, from the end of October 2004. The rise was mainly due to increases in the Aggregate Balance and in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$5.5 billion, or 1.7%, to HK$320.5 billion. The rise was mainly attributable to the corresponding increases in the Aggregate Balance and in Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base together with income from investments, which were partly offset by revaluation losses on investments. At the end of November, the backing ratio stood at 111.14%, compared with 111.45% at the end of October.

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
24 December 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 December 2004, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 December
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 December
(Issued)
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
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Last revision date : 24 December 2004