Monetary Statistics for July 2009

According to statistics published today (Monday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions increased slightly by 0.2% in July 2009. Hong Kong-dollar deposits were little changed during the month as the rise in demand and savings deposits roughly offset the decline in time deposits. Foreign-currency deposits expanded by 0.4% in July. Accounting for around 2.1% of foreign-currency deposits, renminbi deposits in Hong Kong climbed by 2.8% to RMB55.9 billion at the end of July.

Total loans and advances contracted by 1.0% in July. Loans for use in Hong Kong shrank by 1.3% while loans for use outside Hong Kong rose by 0.4%. Reflecting the contraction in Hong Kong-dollar loans, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio declined to 70.8% at the end of July from 72.1% at the end of June.

Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 rose by 5.0% in July and increased by 35.8% from a year earlier. Unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 grew slightly by 0.1% during the month and expanded by 13.8% year on year.

Annex

For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Communications Chief, at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 August 2009