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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority :
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Monday) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$140.8 billion at the end of September 2007 (end-August 2007: US$138.3 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of September 2007 also stood at US$140.8 billion (end-August 2007: US$138.3 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's ninth largest holder of foreign currency reserves based on the latest published figures, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Korea, India, Brazil and Singapore (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$140.8 billion represent about seven times the currency in circulation or 36% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
Release calendar
The release calendar of foreign currency reserve assets for 2008 is announced below:
Reference Month Release Date
January 2008 February 11,2008
February 2008 March 7,2008
March 2008 April 8,2008
April 2008 May 7,2008
May 2008 June 10,2008
June 2008 July 7,2008
July 2008 August 7,2008
August 2008 September 8,2008
September 2008 October 8,2008
October 2008 November 7,2008
November 2008 December 8,2008
December 2008 January 7,2009
For further enquiries, please contact:
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), 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 October 2007, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
October 8 SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
October 15 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund)
October 31 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
October 31 SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
Ends/Monday, October 8, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:45
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