Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (28 June) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$927.6 billion as at 31 May 1999.

The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released on a monthly basis together with the Currency Board Account. The footnotes on the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet refer to the related items on the Currency Board Account.

At end-May 1999, the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$927.6 billion, were HK$28.1 billion lower than at end-April 1999. Both foreign currency assets and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased, by HK$5.6 billion and HK$22.5 billion respectively.

"The decrease in foreign currency assets reflected primarily revaluation effects on foreign currency investments and redemption of currency notes issued, which were partly offset by investment income from foreign currency investments," said an HKMA spokesperson.

The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets reflected mainly the change in the market value of the Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund, the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Currency Board Account figures released today showed that the monetary base at end-May 1999 was HK$197.3 billion, a decrease of HK$1.0 billion, or 0.5%, from end-April 1999. The decrease was primarily due to a net redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness of HK$960 million.

The backing assets decreased marginally from HK$217.1 billion to HK$216.9 billion in May. The decline in US dollar assets backing the Certificates of Indebtedness was largely offset by the net income and revaluation gains totalling HK$741 million. As a result, the backing ratio increased slightly from 109.53% at end-April to 109.95% at end-May.

Attachment

Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund

Annex 2 : Currency Board Account

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

28 June 1999