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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (December 7) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$150.4 billion at the end of November 2007 (end-October 2007: US$142.2 billion) (Table 1).
The US$8.2 billion increase in settled foreign currency assets in the month of November was due mainly to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars.
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of November 2007 stood at US$150.6 billion (end-October 2007: US$143.7 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's ninth largest holder of foreign currency reserves based on the latest published figures, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, India, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil and Singapore (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$150.4 billion represent over seven times the currency in circulation or about 31% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
For further enquiries, please contact Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802.
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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 December 2007, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
December 7 SDDS International Reserves (Hong
Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve
Assets Figures)
December 14 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central
Bank (Analytical Accounts of the
Exchange Fund)
December 31 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet
and Currency Board Account
December 31 SDDS Template on International Reserves
and Foreign Currency Liquidity
Ends/Friday, December 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:59
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