Monetary Statistics for January 2007

According to statistics published today (Wednesday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions increased by 1.6% in January 2007, with Hong Kong dollar deposits and foreign currency deposits registering an increase of 2.4% and 0.7% respectively. Within foreign currency deposits, renminbi deposits increased to RMB24.2 billion yuan at end January from RMB22.7 billion yuan at end December 2006.

Total loans and advances expanded by 3.4% in January, with Hong Kong dollar and foreign currency loans increasing by 3.8% and 2.0% respectively. Loans for use in Hong Kong expanded by 3.3% while loans for use outside Hong Kong grew by 4.1%. Since the Hong Kong dollar loans increased at a faster pace than Hong Kong dollar deposits, the Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio increased to 75.7% in January from a historical low of 74.7% in December.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 dropped by 0.7% in January but increased by 13.1% from a year earlier. Both unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 grew by 2.3% during the month and by 18.2% on a year-on-year comparison.

Annex

For further enquiries, please contact:
Sara Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
28 February 2007