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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (February 24) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$1,119.2 billion on January 31, 2006.
The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released monthly together with the Currency Board Account.
At the end of January 2006 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,119.2 billion, were HK$50.3 billion higher than at the end of December 2005. Both foreign currency assets and Hong Kong dollar assets increased, by HK$32.5 billion and HK$17.8 billion respectively.
The increase in foreign currency assets was due mainly to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness, valuation gains on foreign currency investments together with interest and dividends from foreign currency assets. 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 January 2006 was HK$303.8 billion, an increase of HK$19.8 billion, or 7.0%, from the end of December 2005. The increase was due mainly to increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and in Government-issued currency notes, reflecting the seasonal demand for banknotes around the Lunar New Year.
The Backing Assets increased by HK$19.7 billion, or 6.2%, to HK$336.5 billion. The increase was attributable mainly to the corresponding increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and in Government-issued currency notes in the Monetary Base together with interest from investments, which were partly offset by revaluation losses. Reflecting this, the backing ratio decreased from 111.58% at the end of December 2005 to 110.78% at the end of January 2006.
Attachment
Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund
Annex 2 : Currency Board Account
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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 February 2006, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
February 7 SDDS International Reserves (Hong
(Issued) Kong's Latest Foreign Currency
Reserve Assets Figures)
February 14 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the
(Issued) Central Bank (Exchange Fund
Balance Sheet Data)
February 24 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance
Sheet and Currency Board Account
February 28 SDDS Template on International
Reserves and Foreign Currency
Liquidity
For further enquiries, please contact:
Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Hing-Fung Wong, Resource Co-ordinator, at 2878 1802
Ends/Friday, February 24, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:35
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