Foreign currency assets at end-September
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (9
October) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong
Kong amounted to US$101.5 billion at the end of September 2000
(end-August: US$100.4 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency
reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of September 2000 stood at
US$101.7 billion (end-August: US$100.1 billion).
In terms of foreign currency reserves ranking, Hong Kong is the
world's fourth largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after
Japan, Mainland China and Taiwan (Table
2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$101.5 billion
represent over seven times the currency in circulation or about 40%
of Hong Kong dollar M3, one of the highest ratios in the world.
Release calendar
The release calendar of foreign currency assets for 2001 is
announced below:
Reference Month Release Date
January 2001 7 February 2001
February 2001 7 March 2001
March 2001 9 April 2001
April 2001 7 May 2001
May 2001 7 June 2001
June 2001 9 July 2001
July 2001 7 August 2001
August 2001 7 September 2001
September 2001 8 October 2001
October 2001 7 November 2001
November 2001 7 December 2001
December 2001 7 January 2002
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
9 October 2000
Table 1
Foreign Currency Reserve Assets of
Hong Kong
(US$ billion)
Excluding Including
Unsettled Unsettled Unsettled
FX Contracts FX Contracts FX Contracts
Dec 95 55.4 1.8 57.2
Dec 96 63.8 5.7 69.6
Dec 97 92.8 0.4 93.2
Dec 98 89.6 - 89.6
Jan 99 90.1 - 90.1
Feb 99 89.8 - 89.8
Mar 99 89.5 - 89.5
Apr 99 89.5 - 89.5
May 99 88.9 - 88.9
Jun 99 88.6 - 88.6
Jul 99 89.1 - 89.1
Aug 99 89.2 0.1 89.3
Sep 99 90.4 - 90.4
Oct 99 90.4 - 90.4
Nov 99 92.1 0.5 92.6
Dec 99 96.3 - 96.3
Jan 00 94.3 (0.1) 94.2
Feb 00 93.1 - 93.1
Mar 00 93.8 0.1 93.9
Apr 00 93.9 0.3 94.2
May 00 95.2 0.2 95.4
Jun 00 97.1 - 97.1
Jul 00 98.9 - 98.9
Aug 00 100.4 (0.3) 100.1
Sep 00 101.5 0.2 101.7
Figures for the end of 1995 and 1996 do not include Land Fund
figures. The Land Fund was established on 1 July 1997 and its
foreign currency reserve assets were included thereafter in the
above compilation. The assets of the Land Fund were merged into the
Exchange Fund in November 1998.
Table 2
Foreign Currency Reserves
Ranking
US$ billion As at end of
(1) Japan 348.9 Sep 2000
(2) China 158.6 Jun 2000
(3) Taiwan 111.7 Sep 2000
(4) Hong Kong 101.5 Sep 2000
(5) Korea 92.5 Sep 2000
(6) Germany 83.9 Aug 2000
(7) Singapore 77.5 Aug 2000
(8) France 66.8 Jul 2000
(9) US 64.9 Sep 2000
(10) Italy 46.6 Aug 2000
Sources: HKMA, Reuters, Deutsche Bundesbank, Monetary Authority
of Singapore, U.S. Department of Treasury, Bank of Italy.
