Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (December 28) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$1,003.5 billion as at 30 November 2001.

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 November 2001, the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,003.5 billion, were HK$17.7 billion higher than at the end of October 2001. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$5.2 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$22.9 billion.

The decrease in foreign currency assets was mainly due to the sale of foreign currencies for Hong Kong dollars and valuation losses on foreign currency investments, which were partly offset by an increase in the amount of repurchase agreements outstanding.

The increase in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to the purchase of Hong Kong dollars from foreign currencies and increases in market value of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund and placements by other government funds, which were partly offset by a decrease in bank borrowings.

Figures in the Currency Board Account show that the monetary base at the end of November 2001 was HK$225.8 billion, an increase of HK$0.1 billion, or 0.03%, from the end of October 2001. The rise was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness of HK$0.5 billion, which was partly offset by a decrease in the market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued of HK$0.3 billion.

The backing assets decreased by HK$0.1 billion, or 0.02%, from HK$252.7 billion to HK$252.6 billion. The decline was mainly driven by valuation losses and a decrease in the Aggregate Balance, which were partly offset by the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the monetary base. Reflecting this, the backing ratio decreased from 111.97% at the end of October to 111.91% at the end of November.

Attachment

Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund
Annex 2 : Currency Board Account

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Sylvia Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
28 December 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 December 2001, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: