Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Monday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$2,541.1 billion as at 31 March 2012.

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 March 2012 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,541.1 billion, were HK$1.6 billion higher than at the end of February 2012.  Foreign currency assets increased by HK$17.5 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$15.9 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to increases in unsettled purchases of securities and Certificates of Indebtedness.  The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to fiscal drawdowns and valuation losses on Hong Kong equities.  These decreases were partly offset by placements received from HKSAR government funds and statutory bodies.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of March 2012 was HK$1,085.8 billion, an increase of HK$4.5 billion, or 0.4%, from the end of February 2012.  The rise was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$3.4 billion, or 0.3%, to HK$1,178.2 billion.  The increase was mainly attributable to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness and interest from investments which were partly offset by revaluation losses.  The backing ratio decreased from 108.65% at the end of February 2012 to 108.51% at the end of March 2012.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 April 2012

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 April 2012, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: