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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (October 7) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$112.1 billion at the end of September 2003 (end-August 2003: US$111.8 billion) (Table 1 which is on the HKMA website http://www.hkma.gov.hk).

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of September 2003 also stood at US$112.1 billion (end-August 2003: US$111.4 billion).

In terms of foreign currency reserves ranking, Hong Kong is the world's fifth largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan and Korea (Table 2 which is on the HKMA website http://www.hkma.gov.hk).

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$112.1 billion represent about seven times the currency in circulation or 43% of Hong Kong dollar M3.

Release calendar

The release calendar of foreign currency assets for 2004 is announced below:

Reference Month              Release Date


January 2004                 February 9 2004


February 2004                March 8 2004


March 2004                   April 7 2004


April 2004                   May 7 2004


May 2004                     June 7 2004


June 2004                    July 7 2004


July 2004                    August 9 2004


August 2004                  September 7 2004


September 2004               October 7 2004


October 2004                 November 8 2004


November 2004                December 7 2004


December 2004                January 7 2005

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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 2003, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

October 7        SDDS International Reserves 


                 (Hong Kong's Latest

                 Foreign Currency Reserve Assets 

                 Figures)


October 14       SDDS Analytical Accounts of the

                 Central Bank 

                 (Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data)

October 31       Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet


                 and Currency Board Account




October 31       SDDS Template on International Reserves 


                 and Foreign Currency Liquidity

Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or

Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480

End/Tuesday, October 7, 2003

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