Monetary Statistics for March 2019

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30 Apr 2019

Monetary Statistics for March 2019

According to statistics published today (Tuesday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions grew by 0.5% in March 2019. Hong Kong-dollar deposits expanded by 1.2% during the month, as the increase in time deposits exceeded the decline in demand and savings deposits. Overall foreign-currency deposits decreased by 0.3% in March. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong declined by 1.0% to RMB602.2 billion at the end of March. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB464.5 billion in March, compared with RMB338.6 billion in February 2019.

Total loans and advances went up by 1.1% in March. Among the total, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) expanded by 1.2% from a month ago, and loans for use outside Hong Kong picked up by 0.9%1. The Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio picked up to 87.8% at the end of March from 87.3% at the end of February, as Hong Kong-dollar loans grew at a faster pace than Hong Kong-dollar deposits.

In the first quarter of 2019, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) increased by 2.2% following growth of 1.3% in the previous quarter. Analysed by economic use, the increase in loans during the first quarter was mainly led by trade finance, loans to financial concerns, and loans to building, construction, property development and investment.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, Hong Kong-dollar M1 decreased by 1.3% in March and declined by 4.5% year-on-year. Seasonally unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 increased by 1.1% during the month and grew by 3.0% from a year earlier.

 

Annex

 

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 April 2019


1The December 2018 figures for loans for use in/outside Hong Kong have been restated to reflect authorized institutions’ reclassification of working capital loans. The reported month-on-month and quarter-on-quarter growth rates are calculated based on the reclassified loan data. As reclassified loan data before December 2018 are not available, year-on-year growth rates of loans for use in/outside Hong Kong (including their sub-components) as shown in Table 1H of the Annex are calculated based on the data without such reclassification.

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Last revision date : 30 April 2019