Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

27 Jan 2006

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$1,068.9 billion on 31 December 2005.

The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released monthly together with the Currency Board Account. The figures in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account are unaudited. The audit of the Exchange Fund's annual accounts by the Director of Audit is in progress.

At the end of December 2005 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,068.9 billion, were HK$6.5 billion lower than at the end of November 2005. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$0.3 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$6.8 billion.

The increase in foreign currency assets was due mainly to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness, valuation gains on foreign currency investments and income from foreign currency assets, which were partly offset by a decrease in securities purchased but settled in the following month. The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets was due mainly to a decrease in bank borrowings, which was partly offset by placements received from fiscal reserves.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of December 2005 was HK$284.0 billion, an increase of HK$7.1 billion, or 2.6%, from the end of November 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 former reflected the seasonal demand for banknotes around Christmas and New Year.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$7.9 billion, or 2.6%, to HK$316.9 billion. The increase was attributable mainly to the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base, income from investments and revaluation gains. At the end of December 2005, the backing ratio stood at 111.58%, compared with 111.61% at the end of November 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
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
27 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 (Issued) 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
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Last revision date : 27 January 2006