Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Friday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$2,227.9 billion on 30 June 2010.

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 2010 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,227.9 billion, were HK$35.1 billion higher than at the end of May 2010. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$31.6 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$3.5 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to increases in unsettled purchases of securities and Certificates of Indebtedness. The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to valuation gains on Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of June 2010 was HK$1,023.7 billion, an increase of HK$2.8 billion, or 0.3%, from the end of May 2010. The rise was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$5.9 billion, or 0.5%, to HK$1,107.6 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the rise in the Monetary Base together with revaluation gains and interest from investments. The backing ratio increased from 107.92% at the end of May 2010 to 108.20% at the end of June 2010.

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

For media enquiries, please contact:
Anissa Wong, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1802 or
Yokee Wong, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1213

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 July 2010

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 2010, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: