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$4,023.5 billion as at 31 December 2017, HK$43.9 billion higher than that at the end of November 2017. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$50.4 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$6.5 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars, the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness and income from foreign currency portfolios, which were partly offset by a decrease in unsettled purchases of securities. The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to sale of Hong Kong dollars for foreign currencies, which was partly offset by additional placements from Fiscal Reserves and an increase in market value of Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of December 2017 was HK$1,694.6 billion, increased by HK$18.3 billion, or 1.1%, from the end of November 2017. The rise was mainly due to the increase in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets increased by HK$20.9 billion, or 1.2%, to HK$1,831.4 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness and interest from investments. The backing ratio increased from 108.01% at the end of November 2017 to 108.08% at the end of December 2017.

The figures in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and the Currency Board Account are unaudited. The audit of the Exchange Fund’s annual financial statements by the Director of Audit is in progress.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 January 2018

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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 January 2018, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: