Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Wednesday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$2,201.7 billion on 28 February 2010.

The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released monthly together with the Currency Board Account.

At the end of February 2010 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,201.7 billion, were HK$3.9 billion lower than at the end of January 2010. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$1.2 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$2.7 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was mainly due to a decrease in unsettled purchases of securities, which was partly offset by an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness. The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to fiscal drawdowns, which was partly offset by valuation gains on Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of February 2010 was HK$1,028.3 billion, an increase of HK$6.0 billion, or 0.6%, from the end of January 2010. The rise in the Monetary Base was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness reflecting the seasonal demand for banknotes around the Lunar New Year.

The Backing Assets increased by HK$5.6 billion, or 0.5%, to HK$1,102.4 billion. The increase was attributable mainly to the rise in the Monetary Base together with interest from investments. These changes were partly offset by revaluation losses. The backing ratio decreased from 107.29% at the end of January 2010 to 107.21% at the end of February 2010.

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

For further enquiries, please contact:
Peggy Lo, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1687 or
Natalie Wu, Officer (Communications), at 2878 8246

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 March 2010

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 March 2010, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: