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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (June 7) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$126.5 billion at the end of May 2006 (end-April 2006: US$127.0 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of May 2006 also stood at US$126.5 billion (end-April 2006: US$127.0 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's eighth largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, Korea, India and Singapore (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$126.5 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 39% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Ying-ying Cheng, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Hing-Fung Wong, Resource Co-ordinator, 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 June 2006, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
June 7 SDDS International Reserves
(Hong Kong's Latest Foreign
Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
June 14 SDDS Analytical Accounts of
the Central Bank
(Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)
June 30 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet
and Currency Board Account
June 30 SDDS Template on International Reserves
and Foreign Currency Liquidity
Ends/Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:31
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