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$3,559.7 billion as at 31 August 2016, HK$20.6 billion lower than that at the end of July 2016.  Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$27.6 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$7.0 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was mainly due to a decrease in unsettled purchases of securities.  The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to the increase in market value of Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of August 2016 was HK$1,608.9 billion, increased by HK$0.6 billion, or 0.04%, from the end of July 2016.  The rise was mainly due to an increase in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets decreased by HK$1.0 billion, or 0.1%, to HK$1,721.3 billion.  The decrease was mainly attributable to valuation losses, which was partly offset by the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness and interest from investments.  The backing ratio decreased from 107.09% at the end of July 2016 to 106.98% at the end of August 2016.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 September 2016

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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 September 2016, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: