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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$1,386.2 billion on 31 October 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 October 2007 the total assets of the Exchange Fund, at HK$1,386.2 billion, were HK$67.2 billion higher than at the end of September 2007. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$29.2 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$38.0 billion. The rise in foreign currency assets was due mainly to valuation gains on foreign currency investments, interest and dividend income from foreign currency assets, purchases of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars and an increase in securities purchased but settled in the following month. These increases were partly offset by redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness. The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was due mainly to valuation gains of Hong Kong equities held by the Exchange Fund, placements received from fiscal reserves and an increase in the balance of the banking system. These increases were partly offset by the sale of Hong Kong dollars for foreign currencies. The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of October 2007 was HK$303.6 billion, a decrease of HK$0.5 billion, or 0.2%, from the end of September 2007. The decline was due mainly to a decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness which was partly offset by increases in the market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes outstanding and the Aggregate Balance. The Backing Assets decreased by HK$1.0 billion, or 0.3%, to HK$333.2 billion. The decrease was attributable mainly to the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base, which was partly offset by an increase in the Aggregate Balance and interest from investments. Reflecting this, the backing ratio declined from 109.94% at the end of September 2007 to 109.77% at the end of October 2007.
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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 November 2007, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
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