Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Friday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$2,408.2 billion as at 31 March 2011.

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 March 2011 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$2,408.2 billion, were HK$25.7 billion lower than at the end of February 2011. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$17.8 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$7.9 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was mainly due to decreases in unsettled purchases of securities and Certificates of Indebtedness. The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to fiscal drawdowns.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of March 2011 was HK$1,047.8 billion, a decrease of HK$3.4 billion, or 0.3%, from the end of February 2011. The decline was mainly due to a decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness.

The Backing Assets decreased by HK$5.0 billion, or 0.4%, to HK$1,129.9 billion. The decrease was mainly attributable to the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness and exchange loss triggered by a stronger Hong Kong dollar. The backing ratio decreased from 107.96% at the end of February 2011 to 107.83% at the end of March 2011.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
29 April 2011

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 April 2011, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: