Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures Released

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Monday) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$114.6 billion at the end of March 2001 (end-February 2001: US$114.3 billion) (Table 1).

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of March 2001 also stood at US$114.6 billion (end-February 2001: US$114.3 billion).

In terms of foreign currency reserves ranking, Hong Kong is the world's third largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Japan and Mainland China (Table 2).

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$114.6 billion represent over eight times the currency in circulation or about 45% of Hong Kong dollar M3, one of the highest ratios in the world.

For further enquiries, please contact:
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Caitlin Wong, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

9 April 2001

At present, four press releases relating to the Exchange Fund's data are issued by the HKMA 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 April 2001, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

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
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
Oct 00              102.7           -               102.7
Nov 00              104.2           -               104.2
Dec 00              107.5           -               107.5

Jan 01              111.5           -               111.5
Feb 01              114.3           -               114.3
Mar 01              114.6           -               114.6

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               361.5               Mar 2001
(2)         Mainland China      165.6               Dec 2000
(3)         Hong Kong           114.6               Mar 2001
(4)         Taiwan              110.6               Mar 2001
(5)         Korea               94.4                Mar 2001
(6)         Germany             84.4                Feb 2001
(7)         Singapore           77.7                Mar 2001
(8)         US                  63.7                Mar 2001
(9)         France              62.6                Feb 2001
(10)        Switzerland         52.7                Feb 2001

Sources: HKMA, Reuters, Website of International Monetary Fund.