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Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Friday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$1,242.2 billion on 31 May 2007. The figure is included in the Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet, which is released monthly together with the Currency Board Account. At the end of May 2007 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,242.2 billion, were HK$11.2 billion lower than at the end of April 2007. Foreign currency assets decreased by HK$12.3 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$1.1 billion. The decline in foreign currency assets was due mainly to valuation losses on foreign currency investments, redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness and a decrease in securities purchased but settled in the following month. These decreases were partly offset by interest and dividend income from foreign currency assets. The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was due mainly to valuation gains of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund and placements received from fiscal reserves, which were partly offset by a decrease in Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued but not yet settled. The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of May 2007 was HK$294.8 billion, a decrease of HK$3.4 billion, or 1.1%, from the end of April 2007. The decline was due mainly to a decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness. The Backing Assets decreased by HK$4.6 billion, or 1.4%, to HK$328.0 billion. The decline was attributable mainly to the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base and revaluation losses, which were partly offset by interest from investments. Reflecting this, the backing ratio declined from 111.53% at the end of April 2007 to 111.26% at the end of May 2007.
Attachment For
further enquiries, please contact: Hong Kong
Monetary Authority ******************************************************************** 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 2007, the
scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
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