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$1,105.2billion on 30 June 2006.

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 2006 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,105.2 billion, were HK$2.1 billion higher than at the end of May 2006. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$5.4 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$3.3 billion.

The increase in foreign currency assets was due mainly to interest and dividend income from foreign currency assets and an increase in securities purchased but settled in the following month, which were partly offset by valuation of foreign currency investments. The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets was due mainly to fiscal drawdowns and a decrease in Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued but not yet settled, which were partly offset by an increase in bank borrowings and valuation of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of June 2006 was HK$287.6 billion, an increase of HK$0.1 billion, or 0.03%, from the end of May 2006.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$1.1 billion, or 0.3%, to HK$322.6 billion. The increase was attributable mainly to the interest from investments. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased from 111.81% at the end of May 2006 to 112.16% at the end of June 2006.

Attachment
Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund
Annex 2 : Currency Board Account

For further enquiries, please contact:
Sara Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Ying-ying Cheng, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

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 2006, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: