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$3,239.1 billion as at 31 August 2015, HK$25.5 billion lower than that at the end of July 2015.  Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$6.0 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$19.5 billion.

The decline in foreign currency assets was mainly due to valuation losses on overseas equities, which were largely offset by an increase in unsettled purchases of securities.  The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to valuation losses on Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of August 2015 was HK$1,423.2 billion, increased by HK$3.4 billion, or 0.2%, from the end of July 2015.  The rise was mainly due to an increase in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets increased by HK$3.1 billion, or 0.2%, to HK$1,523.9 billion.  The rise was mainly attributable to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness, which was partly offset by valuation losses.  The backing ratio decreased from 107.12% at the end of July 2015 to 107.08% at the end of August 2015.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
30 September 2015

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