Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Tuesday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$1,919.6 billion on 31 August 2009.

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 August 2009 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,919.6 billion, were HK$55.7 billion higher than at the end of July 2009. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$64.7 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$9.0 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was due mainly to an increase in securities purchased but settled in the following month, purchases of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars and valuation gains on foreign currency investments.

The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was due mainly to fiscal drawdowns and valuation losses on Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund, which were partly offset by an increase in bank borrowings.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of August 2009 was HK$792.1 billion, an increase of HK$21.4 billion, or 2.78%, from the end of July 2009. The rise in the Monetary Base was due mainly to an inflow of funds into the Hong Kong dollar.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$22.9 billion, or 2.82%, to HK$837.2 billion. The increase was attributable mainly to the rise in the Monetary Base together with revaluation gains and interest from investments. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased from 105.65% at the end of July 2009 to 105.69% at the end of August 2009.

Attachment

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

For further enquiries, please contact:
Peggy Lo, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1687 or
Natalie Wu, Officer (Communications), at 2878 8246

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
29 September 2009

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 September 2009, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: