Released
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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$122.8 billion at the end of September 2005 (end-August 2005: US$122.3 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of September 2005 also stood at US$122.8 billion (end-August 2005: US$122.3 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$122.8 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 42% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
Release calendar
The release calendar of foreign currency reserve assets for 2006 is announced below:
Reference Month Release Date
January 2006 February 7 2006
February 2006 March 7 2006
March 2006 April 7 2006
April 2006 May 9 2006
May 2006 June 7 2006
June 2006 July 7 2006
July 2006 August 7 2006
August 2006 September 7 2006
September 2006 October 9 2006
October 2006 November 7 2006
November 2006 December 7 2006
December 2006 January 8 2007
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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 2005, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
October 7 SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kongˇ¦s Latest Foreign Currency
Reserve Assets Figures)
October 14 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Exchange Fund Balance
Sheet Data)
October 28 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
October 31 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/Friday, October 7, 2005
Issued at HKT 16:30
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