********************************************************
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (December 23) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$1,075.3 billion at November 30 2005.
The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released monthly together with the Currency Board Account.
0000
At the end of November 2005 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,075.3 billion, were HK$22.8 billion higher than at the end of October 2005. Both foreign currency assets and Hong Kong dollar assets increased, by HK$12.8 billion and HK$10.0 billion respectively.
The increase in foreign currency assets was due mainly to valuation gains on foreign currency investments, income from foreign currency assets and an increase in securities purchased but settled in the following month, which were partly offset by a decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness. The increase in Hong Kong dollar assets was due mainly to placements received from fiscal reserves and valuation gains in the market value of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund, which were partly offset by a decrease in bank borrowings.
The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of November 2005 was HK$276.9 billion, a decrease of HK$1.3 billion, or 0.5%, from the end of October 2005. The decrease was due mainly to a decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness, which was partly offset by an increase in the market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes outstanding.
000
The Backing Assets decreased by HK$0.6 billion, or 0.2%, to HK$309.0 billion. The decrease was attributable mainly to the corresponding decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base, which was partly offset by income from investments and revaluation gains. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased from 111.29% at the end of October 2005 to 111.61% at the end of November 2005.
Attachment
Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund
Annex 2 : Currency Board Account
********************************************************************
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 2005, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
December 7 SDDS International Reserves
(Issued) (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency
Reserve Assets Figures)
December 14 SDDS Analytical Accounts of
(Issued) the Central Bank
(Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
December 23 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet
and Currency Board Account
December 30 SDDS Template on International
Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
For further enquiries, please contact:
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or Hing-Fung Wong, Resource Co-ordinator, at 2878 1802.
Ends/Friday, December 23, 2005
Issued at HKT 16:32
NNNN
