The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (Monday) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of December 2005, reporting an increase of HK$7.8 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$884.9 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$284.0 billion.
Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$79.5 billion.
Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$1.2 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
16 January 2006
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 January 2006, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
9 January (Issued) |
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures) |
16 January | SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data) |
27 January | Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account |
27 January | SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity |
Analytical Accounts of the Central
Bank
(in millions of Hong Kong dollars)
Monetary |
Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government (2) | Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong (3) | Foreign Assets (4) |
Foreign |
|
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 |
31 May 2005 | 280,600 | 0 | 76,386 | 876,818 | 12,572 |
30 June 2005 | 281,399 | 0 | 79,673 | 869,178 | 5,953 |
31 July 2005 | 279,322 | 0 | 73,816 | 874,333 | 4,626 |
31 August 2005 | 277,618 | 0 | 85,292 | 866,513 | 1,379 |
30 September 2005 | 280,684 | 0 | 74,547 | 879,004 | 1,487 |
31 October 2005 | 278,179 | 0 | 81,259 | 864,016 | 2,308 |
30 November 2005 | 276,859 | 0 | 79,483 | 877,135 | 1,464 |
31 December 2005 | 283,975 | 0 | 79,525 | 884,927 | 1,225 |
(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 are bank deposits.
(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
16 January 2006