According to statistics published today (Friday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions decreased by 2.2% in November 2017. As the decline in demand and time deposits exceeded the increase in savings deposits, Hong Kong-dollar deposits dropped by 6.4% during the month. Overall foreign-currency deposits increased by 2.5% in November. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong expanded by 3.5% to RMB559.2 billion at the end of November. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB440.5 billion in November, compared with RMB314.5 billion in October.
Total loans and advances went down by 3.0% in November. Excluding the initial public offering (IPO) loans (around HK$379 billion) straddling the end of October, the loan growth in November would have increased by 1.0%. Among the total, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) declined by 4.7% from a month ago while loans for use outside Hong Kong rose by 1.2%. As Hong Kong-dollar loans decreased at a slower pace than Hong Kong-dollar deposits, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio picked up to 81.0% at the end of November from 80.2% at the end of October.
Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 decreased by 1.9% in November but expanded by 13.6% year on year. Seasonally unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 went down by 5.9% during the month but rose by 11.6% from a year earlier.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
29 December 2017