Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

Press Releases

14 May 2001

Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (Monday) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of April 2001, reporting an increase of HK$5.4 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$861.7 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$220.4 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$50.1 billion.

Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$66.8 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).

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
14 May 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 issued in accordance with the HKMA's policy of maintaining a high level of transparency. For the month of May, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

7 May
(Issued)
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 May SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
31 May Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
31 May SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity

Annex 1

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

Monetary

Base (1)

Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government (2)

Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong (3)

Foreign

Assets (4)

Foreign

Liabilities (5)

30 April 2000

208,958

0

74,939

680,747

46

31 May 2000

205,151

0

60,116

699,042

52

30 June 2000

208,344

0

45,592

723,309

53

31 July 2000

207,590

0

53,806

738,407

16,644

31 August 2000

206,800

0

49,349

746,871

21,665

30 September 2000

209,882

0

54,988

751,233

21,876

31 October 2000

208,082

0

54,125

758,699

23,855

30 November 2000

208,658

0

55,316

777,323

18,546

31 December 2000

215,404

0

45,288

803,399

19,816

31 January 2001

227,857

0

69,543

833,327

34,134

28 February 2001

217,045

0

62,301

856,800

59,959

31 March 2001

216,681

0

46,394

856,380

65,115

30 April 2001

220,449

0

50,103

861,731

66,845

(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, securities lending with cash collateral arrangements and fees payable to the Exchange Fund's external managers.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

14 May 2001

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Last revision date : 14 May 2001