Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

30 Jun 2005

Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Thursday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$1,060.3 billion at 31 May 2005.

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 May 2005 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,060.3 billion, were HK$2.2 billion higher than at the end of April 2005. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$2.6 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$4.8 billion.

The decrease in foreign currency assets was mainly due to a decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness and sales of foreign currencies for Hong Kong dollars, which were partly offset by an increase in repurchase agreements outstanding and income from foreign currency assets.

The increase in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to the purchase of Hong Kong dollars from foreign currencies, which was partly offset by a decrease in bank borrowings and fiscal drawdowns.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of May 2005 was HK$280.6 billion, a decrease of HK$6.0 billion, or 2.1%, from the end of April 2005. The decrease was mainly due to decreases in the Aggregate Balance, Certificates of Indebtedness and market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes outstanding.

The Backing Assets decreased by HK$5.3 billion, or 1.7%, to HK$310.3 billion. The decrease was mainly attributable to the corresponding decreases in the Aggregate Balance and Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased from 110.14% at the end of April 2005 to 110.60% at the end of May 2005.

Attachment

Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund

Annex 2 : Currency Board Account

For further enquiries, please contact:

Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Hing-Fung Wong, Resource Co-ordinator, at 2878 1802

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 June 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 June 2005, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 June
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 June
(Issued)
SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
30 June Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
30 June SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
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Last revision date : 30 June 2005