Monetary Statistics for January 2010

According to statistics published today (Friday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions declined by 0.8% in January 2010. Hong Kong-dollar deposits shrank by 1.1% during the month, as the contraction in savings and time deposits exceeded the expansion in demand deposits. Foreign-currency deposits also declined by 0.4% in January. Accounting for around 2.4% of foreign-currency deposits, renminbi deposits in Hong Kong climbed by 2.0% to RMB64.0 billion at the end of January.

Total loans and advances increased by 1.9% in January. Loans for use in Hong Kong grew by 2.1% and loans for use outside Hong Kong rose by 1.0%. As Hong Kong-dollar loans expanded while deposits contracted, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio rose to 73.0% at the end of January 2010 from 71.2% at the end of December 2009.

Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 expanded by 1.7% in January and increased by 34.5% from a year earlier. Unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 shrank by 0.9% during the month but rose by 9.4% year on year.

Annex

For further enquiries, please contact:
Yokee Wong, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1213 or
Natalie Wu, Officer (Communications), at 2878 8246

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
26 February 2010