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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (April 11) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$135.4 billion at the end of March 2007 (end-February 2007: US$136.2 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of March 2007 also stood at US$135.4 billion (end-February 2007: US$136.2 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's eighth largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Korea, India and Singapore (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$135.4 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 35% 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 April 2007, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
April 11 SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
April 16 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund)
April 30 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
April 30 SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
For further enquiries, please contact:
Hing-Fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Ends/Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:09
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