Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

29 Jul 2005

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$1,058.0 billion at 30 June 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 June 2005 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,058.0 billion, were HK$2.3 billion lower than at the end of May 2005. Both foreign currency assets and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased, by HK$0.5 billion and HK$1.8 billion respectively.

The decrease in foreign currency assets was mainly due to a decrease in repurchase agreements outstanding, which was partly offset by income from foreign currency assets, increases in securities purchased but settled in the following month, and Certificates of Indebtedness. The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets mainly reflects fiscal drawdowns and offsetting increases in bank borrowings.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of June 2005 was HK$281.4 billion, an increase of HK$0.8 billion, or 0.28%, from the end of May 2005. The increase was due mainly to increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and in the market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes outstanding.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$1.0 billion, or 0.31%, to HK$311.3 billion. The increase was attributable mainly to the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base and income from investments, which was partly offset by revaluation losses on investments. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased from 110.60% at the end of May 2005 to 110.62% at the end of June 2005.

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
Hing-Fung Wong, Resource Co-ordinator, at 2878 1802

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

7 July
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 July
(Issued)
SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
29 July Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
29 July SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
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Last revision date : 29 July 2005