Monetary Statistics for December 2007

Press Releases

31 Jan 2008

Monetary Statistics for December 2007

According to statistics published today (Thursday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions decreased by 3.8% in December, with the contraction in Hong Kong dollar deposits exceeding the expansion in foreign currency deposits. Hong Kong dollar demand deposits declined by 51.4%, reflecting a high base of comparison due to initial public offering activity at the end of November. Renminbi deposits grew by 10.5% to RMB33.4 billion yuan at the end of December.

Total loans and advances contracted by 7.3% during the month. Loans for use in Hong Kong decreased by 8.9% while loans for use outside Hong Kong expanded by 1.1%. With a larger percentage decrease in loans relative to deposits, the Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio declined to 71.0% at the end of December.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, loans for use in Hong Kong decreased by 4.4%, mainly driven by the 86.4% decline in loans to stockbrokers. Analysed by economic uses, most types of loans expanded and lending to financial concerns registered a strong increase of 9.6%.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 rose by 1.2% in December and by 10.4% from a year earlier. Unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 decreased by 8.7% and 8.6% respectively during the month. On a year-on-year comparison, Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 both grew by 18.1%.

Annex

For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 January 2008

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Last revision date : 31 January 2008