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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (January 26) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$1,176.7 billion on December 31 2006.
The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released monthly together with the Currency Board Account. The figures in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and the Currency Board Account are unaudited. The audit of the Exchange Fund’s annual accounts by the Director of Audit is in progress.
At the end of December 2006 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,176.7 billion, were HK$10.5 billion lower than at the end of November 2006. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$5.3 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by HK$5.2 billion.
The decline in foreign currency assets was due mainly to valuation losses on foreign currency investments and a decrease in securities purchased but settled in the following month. These decreases were partly offset by an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness, and interest and dividend income from foreign currency assets. The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was due mainly to a decrease in bank borrowings, which was partly offset by placements received from fiscal reserves and valuation of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund.
The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of December 2006 was HK$298.0 billion, an increase of HK$6.2 billion, or 2.1%, from the end of November 2006. The rise was due mainly to increases in Certificates of Indebtedness and market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes outstanding. The former reflected the seasonal demand for banknotes around Christmas and New Year.
The Backing Assets increased by HK$5.5 billion, or 1.7%, to HK$332.7 billion. The increase was attributable mainly to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base together with interest from investments, which were partly offset by revaluation losses. Reflecting this, the backing ratio declined from 112.14% at the end of November 2006 to 111.65% at the end of December 2006.
Attachment
Annex 1 : Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund
Annex 2 : Currency Board Account
For further enquiries, please contact:
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
January 26 2007
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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 January 2007, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
January 8 SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest
(Issued) Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
January 15 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank
(Issued) (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund)
January 26 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and
Currency Board Account
January 31 SDDS Template on International Reserves and
Foreign Currency Liquidity
Ends/Friday, January 26, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:31
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