Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

Balance sheet data at end-September

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (16 October 2000) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of September 2000, reporting an increase of HK$4.4 billion in the foreign assets of the Exchange Fund during the month.

Foreign assets, representing the external assets of the Exchange Fund, amounted to HK$751.2 billion.

The Monetary Base, comprising Certificates of Indebtedness and coins issued, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued, amounted to HK$209.9 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$55 billion.

Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$21.9 billion.

The balance sheet data of the Exchange Fund are released in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and are referred to as the Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank under SDDS (Annex 1).

Release calendar

The release calendar of the Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank for 2001 is announced below:

   Reference Month       Release Date

    January 2001        14 February 2001
    February 2001       14 March 2001
    March 2001          17 April 2001
    April 2001          14 May 2001
    May 2001            14 June 2001
    June 2001           16 July 2001
    July 2001           14 August 2001
    August 2001         14 September 2001
    September 2001      15 October 2001
    October 2001        14 November 2001
    November 2001       14 December 2001
    December 2001       14 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

16 October 2000

Annex 1

Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank
(in millions of Hong Kong dollars)

(1) The Monetary Base comprises Certificates of Indebtedness (for backing the currency notes) and coins issued, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued.

(2) Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government refer to any lending to the Government.

(3) Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong include bank deposits and investments in debt securities issued by public sector entities in Hong Kong held by the Exchange Fund.

(4) Foreign Assets represent the external assets of the Exchange Fund and exclude foreign currency deposits placed with banks in Hong Kong.

(5) Foreign Liabilities include obligations under repurchase agreements and fees payable to the Exchange Fund's external managers.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

16 October 2000