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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (February 7) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$127.8 billion at the end of January 2006 (end-December 2005: US$124.3 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of January 2006 also stood at US$127.8 billion (end-December 2005: US$124.3 billion).
Hong Kong is the world¡¯s seventh largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, Russia and India (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$127.8 billion represent about six times the currency in circulation or 42% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
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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 Kong's
Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets
Figures)
February 14 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the 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/Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:33
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