Released
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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (September 7) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$122.3 billion at the end of August 2005 (end-July 2005: US$121.9 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of August 2005 also stood at US$122.3 billion (end-July 2005: US$121.9 billion).
In terms of foreign currency reserves ranking, Hong Kong is the world's seventh largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, Russia and India (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$122.3 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 42% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
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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 September 2005, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
September 7 SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency
Reserve Assets Figures)
September 14 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance
Sheet Data)
September 30 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
September 30 SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
For further enquiries, please contact:
Kevin Ip, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Ends/Wednesday, September 7, 2005
Issued at HKT 17:20
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