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$3,004.2 billion as at 31 March 2014, HK$12.7 billion lower than that at the end of February 2014.  Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$1.0 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$11.7 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was mainly due to valuation losses on foreign currency investments and a decrease in foreign currency assets connected with the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness.  These decreases were partly offset by interest and dividend income from foreign currency assets.  The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to valuation losses on Hong Kong equities and fiscal drawdowns.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of March 2014 was HK$1,255.7 billion, decreased by HK$2.1 billion, or 0.2%, from the end of February 2014.  The decline was due to a decrease in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets decreased by HK$3.5 billion, or 0.3%, to HK$1,350.9 billion.  The decrease was attributable to the reduction in assets connected with the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness and revaluation losses.  The backing ratio decreased from 107.68% at the end of February 2014 to 107.58% at the end of March 2014.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 April 2014

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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 2014, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: