Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (February 28) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$991.5 billion as at 31 January 2002.

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 January 2002, the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$991.5 billion, were HK$11.0 billion higher than at the end of December 2001. Both foreign currency assets and Hong Kong dollar assets increased, by HK$3.5 billion and HK$7.5 billion respectively.

The increase in foreign currency assets was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness, which was partly offset by a decrease in the amount of repurchase agreements outstanding.

The increase in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to an increase in placements by other government funds, which was partly offset by a decrease in the market value of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund and a reduction in bank borrowings.

Figures in the Currency Board Account show that the monetary base at the end of January 2002 was HK$236.0 billion, an increase of HK$6.3 billion, or 2.7%, from the end of December 2001. The increase was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness of HK$5.9 billion during the month, which reflected a rise in the demand for cash ahead of the Lunar New Year.

The backing assets increased by HK$6.5 billion, or 2.5%, from HK$256.5 billion to HK$263.0 billion. The rise was mainly driven by the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the monetary base and net income from investments. At the end of January, the backing ratio stood at 111.45%, compared to 111.68% at the end of December.

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 February 2002

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 February 2002, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: