Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (27 October) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$988.9 billion as at 30 September 2000.

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

At the end of September 2000, the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$988.9 billion, were HK$1.1 billion lower than at the end of August. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$8.1 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$9.2 billion.

The increase in foreign currency assets was mainly attributable to foreign currency investment income, revaluation gains on foreign currency investments and an increase in currency notes issued.

The decrease in Hong Kong dollar assets was due largely to a decrease in the market value of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund and a decrease in placements by other government funds which were partly offset by placements from other institutions.

Figures in the Currency Board Account show that the monetary base at the end of September was HK$209.9 billion, an increase of HK$3.1 billion, or 1.5%, from the end of August 2000. The rise was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness of HK$2.8 billion.

The backing assets increased by HK$3.6 billion, or 1.6% from HK$230.2 billion to HK$233.8 billion. The rise was mainly driven by the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the monetary base together with income from investment and revaluation gains of HK$1.2 billion. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased marginally from 111.3% at the end of August to 111.4% at the end of September.

Attachment

Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund

Annex 2 : Currency Board Account

For further enquiries, please contact:

Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or

Caitlin Wong, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

27 October 2000

At present, four press releases relating to the Exchange Fund's data are issued each month. Three of these releases are issued to disseminate monetary data in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). The fourth press release, on the Exchange Fund's Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account, is made in accordance with the HKMA's policy of maintaining a high level of transparency. For the month of October, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: