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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (October 14) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of September 2003, reporting an increase of HK$5.4 billion in the foreign assets of the Exchange Fund during the month.

Foreign assets, representing the external assets of the Exchange Fund, amounted to HK$824.6 billion.

The Monetary Base, comprising Certificates of Indebtedness, Government-issued currency notes and coins in circulation, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued, amounted to HK$257.9 billion.

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$44.2 billion.

Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to HK$9.6 billion.

The balance sheet data of the Exchange Fund are released in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and are referred to as the Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank under SDDS (Annex which is on the HKMA website http://www.hkma.gov.hk).

Release calendar

The release calendar of the Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank for 2004 is announced below:

  Reference Month            Release Date 

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  January 2004               February 16 2004

  February 2004              March 15 2004

  March 2004                 April 14 2004

  April 2004                 May 14 2004

  May 2004                   June 14 2004

  June 2004                  July 14 2004

  July 2004                  August 16 2004

  August 2004                September 14 2004

  September 2004             October 14 2004

  October 2004               November 15 2004

  November 2004              December 14 2004

  December 2004              January 14 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, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:

October 7          SDDS International Reserves 


(Issued)           (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

Jasmin Fung, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or

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

End/Tuesday, October 14, 2003

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