Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Tuesday) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$261.4 billion at the end of August 2010 (end-July 2010: US$260.7 billion) (Table 1). There were no unsettled forward contracts at end of August and end of July.

Hong Kong is the world's seventh largest holder of foreign currency reserves based on the latest published figures, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Korea and India (Table 2).

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$261.4 billion represent over nine times the currency in circulation or about 56% of Hong Kong dollar M3.

Tables 1 & 2

For media enquiries, please contact:
Anissa Wong, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1802 or
Herbert Lam, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
7 September 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 September 2010, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: