Monetary Statistics for January 2002

According to statistics published today (Thursday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, both total deposits and loans of all authorized institutions declined during the month of January. Table 1 provides a summary and comparison with earlier months.

Deposits

Total deposits decreased slightly by 1.1% in January, with both Hong Kong dollar and foreign currency deposits declining.

The moderate decline in Hong Kong dollar deposits in part reflected a switch from deposits to cash ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays. Among different categories of deposits, savings and time deposits contracted by 1.3% and 2.3% respectively, while demand deposits rose by 0.2%. The slight fall in foreign currency deposits was due to decreases in both US dollar and non-US dollar foreign currency deposits.

Loans and advances

Total loans and advances declined marginally by 0.1% during the month. Of the total, loans for use outside Hong Kong shrank by 1.4%, which more than offset a small increase of 0.1% in loans for use in Hong Kong.

Analysed by currency, Hong Kong dollar denominated loans increased marginally, while foreign currency loans declined moderately in January. As Hong Kong dollar loans increased while Hong Kong dollar deposits decreased, the Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio edged up to 91.1%.

Money supply

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 rose slightly by 0.8% in January. Both unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 declined moderately by 1.4% during the month. Compared with a year ago, unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M1 increased significantly by 8.2%, while Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 shrank by 1.5% and 1.3% respectively.

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 February 2002