According to statistics published today (Thursday, 27 March) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, both deposits and loans and advances increased during February 1997. Table 1 summarizes figures for February 1997 and comparisons with earlier months.
Deposits
Total deposits rose by 2.8% in February, following an increase of 1.4% in January. Both HK$ and foreign currency deposits grew at a faster pace than in the previous month, rising by 3.6% and 1.7% respectively.
The growth of HK$ deposits was entirely attributable to the marked rise in time deposits, which more than offset the fall in demand and savings deposits. Time deposits surged by 6.7% in February, having risen by 2.4% in January. In contrast, demand deposits fell significantly by 7.7% in February, reversing a 11.4% growth in the previous month, and savings deposits declined slightly by 0.1%, following a 1.2% fall in January. The strong growth in time deposits was partly contributed by placements of share subscription monies in the form of time deposits before the refund dates, while the decline of demand deposits reflected a reversal of previous month's seasonal rise in transaction demand for money after the Chinese New Year holidays.
Both US$ and non-US$ deposits increased in February. US$ deposits grew slightly by 0.3% during the month, after dropping by 2.7% in December 1996 and 0.3% in January 1997, while non-US$ foreign currency deposits rose further by 3.2%, following increases of 0.5% and 0.9% in December 1996 and January 1997 respectively.
Loans and Advances
Total loans and advances continued to expand. They grew by 2.6% in February, following a 0.1% rise in January. Domestic credit expanded by 4.7%, with the 0.9% contraction in loans for trade financing more than offset by a 5.3% increase in other loans for use in Hong Kong. The latter was largely attributable to the rapid rise of loans for share subscriptions and property-related lending. The result of the February 1997 Residential Mortgage Survey of 33 authorized institutions revealed that outstanding residential mortgage loans grew by 2.7% during the month. Offshore loans rebounded slightly by 0.7% in February, from a 3.1% decline in January.
HK$ and foreign currency loans rose by 5.7% and 0.7% respectively during the month. As HK$ loans expanded at a faster pace than HK$ deposits, the HK$ loan-to-deposit ratio rose further to 108.2% at end-February, from 106.1% at end-January.
Money Supply
HK$M1 fell by 5.9% in February, with currency held by the public falling by 3% and HK$ demand deposits dropping by 7.7%, as the transaction demand for money eased to a more normal level after the Chinese New Year holidays. In line with the rapid domestic credit expansion, HK$M2 and HK$M3 increased by 3.2% and 3.1% respectively in February, following rises of 2.7% and 2.6% in the previous month. In the twelve months to February 1997, HK$M1 rose by 13.6%, HK$M2 increased by 22.6% and HK$M3 grew by 22.3%.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
27 March 1997
* Adjusted to exclude foreign currency swap deposits.
@ Adjusted to include foreign currency swap deposits.
# Including those where place of usage is unknown.
Note : Data may not add up to total due to rounding.
