Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

Press Releases

17 May 2005

Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (Tuesday) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of April 2005, reporting an increase of HK$4.3 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$883.0 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$286.6 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$73.0 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:
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
17 May 2005

 

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 2005, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

9 May
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
17 May SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
27 May Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
31 May 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 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

30 November 2004 288,362 0 76,694 868,326

137

31 December 2004 294,871 0 55,858 904,904

157

31 January 2005 305,786 0 65,249 907,743

1,382

28 February 2005 296,192 0 64,428 902,425

1,910

31 March 2005 286,496 0 76,790 878,677

1,431

30 April 2005 286,597 0 72,940 883,019

946

(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
17 May 2005

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Last revision date : 17 May 2005