According to statistics published today (Friday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions and its Hong Kong-dollar deposits component stayed virtually unchanged in July 2019, as decreases in time deposits offset increases in demand and savings deposits. Overall foreign-currency deposits edged down by 0.1% in July. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong increased by 2.0% to RMB616.0 billion at the end of July. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB455.8 billion in July, compared with RMB440.6 billion in June.
Total loans and advances edged down by 0.1% in July. Among the total, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) declined slightly by 0.2% from a month ago, while loans for use outside Hong Kong increased by 0.2%.1 The Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio dropped to 88.9% at the end of July from 89.3% at the end of June, as Hong Kong-dollar loans decreased while Hong Kong-dollar deposits stayed virtually unchanged.
Both the Hong Kong-dollar M2 and M3 edged down by 0.1% in July, but rose by 3.3% from a year earlier. The decreases in the Hong Kong-dollar M2 and M3 were led by a decline in negotiable certificates of deposit issued by authorized institutions held outside the banking sector, while Hong Kong-dollar deposits was unchanged. The seasonally-adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 edged down by 0.1% in July and declined by 3.0% from a year earlier, reflecting in part investment-related activities. Total M2 and M3 both edged down by 0.2% in July, but grew by 3.8% from a year earlier.
As monthly monetary statistics are subject to volatilities due to a wide range of transient factors, such as seasonal and IPO-related funding demand as well as business and investment-related activities, caution is required when interpreting the statistics.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 August 2019
1 The 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.