Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Press Releases

31 Jul 2008

Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Thursday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$1,409.2 billion on 30 June 2008.

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 2008 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,409.2 billion, were HK$39.4 billion lower than at the end of May 2008. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$17.8 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$21.6 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was due mainly to valuation losses on foreign currency investments, which was partly offset by interest and dividend income from foreign currency assets and an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was due mainly to valuation losses on Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund and fiscal drawdowns, which were partly offset by an increase in Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued but not yet settled.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of June 2008 was HK$326.2 billion, an increase of HK$1.0 billion, or 0.3%, from the end of May 2008. The rise was due mainly to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$2.5 billion, or 0.7%, to HK$359.2 billion. The increase was attributable mainly to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base together with revaluation gains and interest from investments. Reflecting this, the backing ratio rose from 109.70% at the end of May 2008 to 110.14% at the end of June 2008.

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

For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Lilian Goh, Officer (Press), at 2878 8246

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 July 2008

 

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 2008, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 July
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 July
(Issued)
SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund)
31 July Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
31 July SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
Latest Press Releases
Last revision date : 31 July 2008