Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Tuesday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$4,177.8 billion as at 29 February 2020, HK$16.2 billion lower than that at the end of January 2020. Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$32.9 billion while foreign currency assets increased by HK$16.7 billion.

The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to a decrease in bank borrowings and withdrawals of placements by Fiscal Reserves, HKSAR government funds and statutory bodies. The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to an increase in unsettled purchases of securities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of February 2020 was HK$1,686.6 billion, decreased by HK$2.1 billion, or 0.1%, from the end of January 2020. The decline was mainly due to a decrease in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.

The amount of Backing Assets increased by HK$12.7 billion, or 0.7%, to HK$1,886.4 billion. The increase was mainly attributable to the rise in the market value of investments which was partly offset by the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness. The backing ratio increased from 110.96% at the end of January 2020 to 111.85% at the end of February 2020.

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

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 March 2020

*****************************************************************

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 March 2020, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: