International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
*****************************************************

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (December 30) analytical data on the Hong Kong SAR's foreign currency reserves and foreign currency liquidity at the end of November 2005 (Annex).  These data are published monthly in the Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard.

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

     At present, four press releases relating to the Exchange Fund's data are issued each month.  Three of these releases are issued to disseminate monetary data in accordance with the International Monetary FundĄ¯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 KongĄ¯s Latest Foreign Currency
              Reserve Assets Figures)

December 14   SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central
(Issued)      Bank (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)

December 23   Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet
(Issued)      and Currency Board Account

December 30   SDDS Template on International Reserves
              and Foreign Currency Liquidity

For further enquiries, please contact:

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

Ends/Friday, December 30, 2005
Issued at HKT 16:36

NNNN