Hong Kong Monetary Authority - Monetary Statistics for September 1997

Press Releases

30 Oct 1997

Monetary Statistics for September 1997

1. According to statistics published today (Thursday, 30th October) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits and loans and advances rose during September 1997. Table 1 gives a summary and comparisons with earlier months.

Deposits

2. Total deposits rose by 2.0% in September, reversing a 0.8% drop in August. HK$ deposits and foreign currency deposits increased by 1.7% and 2.5% respectively.

3. During the month, demand deposits grew by 2%, having fallen by 5.8% in August. Savings deposits declined further by 4.1% in September, having decreased by 2.8% in the previous month. Time deposits increased by 3.6%, reversing a drop of 0.5% in August. The rise in time deposits may be partly due to a shift from savings deposits to time deposits, as banks offered higher time deposit rates in response to higher interbank rates. The placement of money with banks for new share subscription on or before the refund dates also contributed to the rise in time deposits.

4. Both US$ and non-US$ foreign currency deposits grew in September. US$ deposits rose by 2.4%, following an increase of 0.5% in August, while non-US$ foreign currency deposits rebounded by 2.6%, after declining for three consecutive months. As a whole, foreign currency deposits recorded a 2.5% rise in September.

Loans and advances

5. Total loans and advances rose by 0.8% in September, after falling by 0.6% and 0.4% in July and August respectively. During the month, domestic credit expanded sharply by 3.8%, with a rise of 4.2% in other loans for use in Hong Kong more than offsetting a small decline of 0.4% in loans for trade financing. Meanwhile, offshore loans fell further by 2.3%, having decreased by 1.5% in the previous month.

6. HK$ loans expanded by 4.1% while foreign currency loans fell by 1.4%. As the increase in HK$ loans was larger than that of HK$ deposits, the HK$ loan-to-deposit ratio rose to 112.1% at end-September, from 109.6% at end-August.

Quarterly Analysis of Loans for Use in Hong Kong by Major Economic Sector

7. During the September quarter, domestic credit expanded rapidly, albeit at a slower rate than in the June quarter. Residential mortgage loans surged further by 9.0% during the quarter, and loans to stock-brokers increased substantially by 106.2%, partly due to new share subscriptions. On the other hand, loans to the manufacturing sector and to the wholesale and retail trades fell by 3.1% and 2.2% respectively. The growth of loans for building, construction and property development moderated to 4.3%, from 11.3% in the previous quarter.

Money supply

8. Hong Kong dollar money supply rose in September across-the-board, with HK$M1 increasing by 1.8% and HK$M2 and HK$M3 rising by 1.7%. In the twelve months to September, HK$M1, HK$M2 and HK$M3 rose by 9.2%, 21.7% and 21.6% respectively. The annual growth in broad monetary aggregates continued to outpace that of nominal GDP.

Note to editor

9. For enquiries, please contact the Press and Publications Section, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at telephone 2878 8261.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

30 October 1997

MONETARY STATISTICS -- Sep 1997
(HK$mn)

		Earlier months(% change to Sep 1997)
	Sep 1997	Aug 1997		Jun 1997		Sep 1996
Money Supply M1 - HK$ - Foreign currency - Total M2 - HK$ - Foreign currency - Total M3 - HK$ - Foreign currency - Total Notes and coins in circulation of which held by public	204,060 19,596 223,656 1,710,330 1,075,558 2,785,888 1,728,605 1,144,494 2,873,099 92,643 80,721	200,435 20,754 221,189 1,682,216 1,049,300 2,731,516 1,700,003 1,118,252 2,818,255 90,296 79,561	(1.8) (-5.6) (1.1) (1.7) (2.5) (2.0) (1.7) (2.3) (1.9) (2.6) (1.5)	204,922 21,933 226,855 1,675,342 1,066,146 2,741,489 1,691,684 1,136,606 2,828,290 96,801 81,704	(-0.4) (-10.7) (-1.4) (2.1) (0.9) (1.6) (2.2) (0.7) (1.6) (-4.3) (-1.2)	186,849 19,519 206,368 1,405,397 1,021,002 2,426,400 1,421,602 1,086,023 2,507,625 84,139 74,416	(9.2) (0.4) (8.4) (21.7) (5.3) (14.8) (21.6) (5.4) (14.6) (10.1) (8.5)
Total Deposits Total Demand deposits Total Savings deposits Total Time deposits With licensed banks With restricted licence banks With deposit-taking companies HK$ deposits @ Demand deposits Savings deposits Time deposits @ US$ deposits * Other foreign currency deposits * Foreign currency deposits* All deposits Foreign currency swap deposits	142,935 502,593 2,065,251 1,998,584 51,844 14,822 1,599,399 123,339 347,961 1,128,099 532,329 579,051 1,111,380 2,710,779 35,906	141,628 520,546 1,994,446 1,928,914 51,033 14,499 1,572,618 120,874 362,934 1,088,810 519,669 564,335 1,084,003 2,656,621 34,872	(0.9) (-3.4) (3.6) (3.6) (1.6) (2.2) (1.7) (2.0) (-4.1) (3.6) (2.4) (2.6) (2.5) (2.0) (3.0)	145,151 532,640 1,986,437 1,924,534 47,387 14,516 1,566,471 123,217 381,297 1,061,956 514,910 582,846 1,097,756 2,664,227 37,419	(-1.5) (-5.6) (4.0) (3.8) (9.4) (2.1) (2.1) (0.1) (-8.7) (6.2) (3.4) (-0.7) (1.2) (1.7) (-4.0)	131,952 478,066 1,750,436 1,689,977 44,950 15,509 1,304,136 112,433 335,475 856,229 510,620 545,698 1,056,318 2,360,454 39,266	(8.3) (5.1) (18.0) (18.3) (15.3) (-4.4) (22.6) (9.7) (3.7) (31.8) (4.3) (6.1) (5.2) (14.8) (-8.6)
Total Loans and advances Loans for use in H.K. To finance H.K.'s visible trade To finance merchandising trade not touching H.K. Other loans for use in H.K. Loans for use outside H.K.# Other loans for use outside H.K. Other loans where the place of use is not known Loans in HK$ Loans in foreign currencies Total loans and advances	2,235,793 175,200 22,221 2,038,372 2,042,052 1,992,694 49,358 1,793,473 2,484,372 4,277,845	2,154,326 176,046 22,101 1,956,178 2,089,306 2,039,622 49,683 1,722,865 2,520,767 4,243,631	(3.8) (-0.5) (0.5) (4.2) (-2.3) (-2.3) (-0.7) (4.1) (-1.4) (0.8)	2,111,588 175,070 21,007 1,915,511 2,174,486 2,126,500 47,986 1,685,841 2,600,234 4,286,074	(5.9) (0.1) (5.8) (6.4) (-6.1) (-6.3) (2.9) (6.4) (-4.5) (-0.2)	1,742,326 163,079 19,372 1,559,875 2,077,899 2,037,606 40,292 1,385,226 2,434,999 3,820,224	(28.3) (7.4) (14.7) (30.7) (-1.7) (-2.2) (22.5) (29.5) (2.0) (12.0)