Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Wednesday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$2,491.0 billion as at 31 July 2011.

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 July 2011 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,491.0 billion, were HK$57.8 billion higher than at the end of June 2011. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$47.6 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$10.2 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to an increase in unsettled purchases of securities and valuation gains on foreign currency investments. The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to placements received from HKSAR government funds and statutory bodies.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of July 2011 was HK$1,056.0 billion, an increase of HK$1.5 billion, or 0.1%, from the end of June 2011. The rise was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$6.4 billion, or 0.6%, to HK$1,146.8 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness together with revaluation gains and interest from investments. The backing ratio increased from 108.14% at the end of June 2011 to 108.59% at the end of July 2011

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 August 2011

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 August 2011, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: