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$4,188.0 billion as at 31 October 2019, HK$41.0 billion lower than that at the end of September 2019. Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$69.9 billion while foreign currency assets increased by HK$28.9 billion.

The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to a decrease in Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued but not yet settled. The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to an increase in unsettled purchases of securities and income from foreign currency investments.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of October 2019 was HK$1,646.3 billion, increased by HK$1.7 billion, or 0.1%, from the end of September 2019. The rise was mainly due to amortisation of discount on Exchange Fund Bills and Notes.

The amount of Backing Assets increased by HK$4.0 billion, or 0.2%, to HK$1,842.5 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to interest from investments. The backing ratio increased from 111.80% at the end of September 2019 to 111.92% at the end of October 2019.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
29 November 2019

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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 November 2019, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: