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$3,219.1 billion as at 31 January 2015, HK$67.0 billion higher than that at the end of December 2014.  Foreign currency assets increased by HK$14.2 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$52.8 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars and valuation gains on foreign currency investments, which were partly offset by exchange losses. The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to placements received from the fiscal reserves.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of January 2015 was HK$1,348.8 billion, increased by HK$3.4 billion, or 0.3%, from the end of December 2014.  The rise was mainly due to an increase in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets increased by HK$5.8 billion, or 0.4%, to HK$1,449.0 billion.  The rise was mainly attributable to an increase in assets connected with the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness and revaluation gains.  The backing ratio increased from 107.27% at the end of December 2014 to 107.43% at the end of January 2015.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
27 February 2015

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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 2015, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: