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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (May 9) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$127.0 billion at the end of April 2006 (end-March 2006: US$125.9 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of April 2006 also stood at US$127.0 billion (end-March 2006: US$125.9 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's eighth largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, Korea, India and Singapore (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$127.0 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 40% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Hing-Fung Wong, Resource Co-ordinator, at 2878 1802 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
Hong Kong Monetary Authority May 9, 2006
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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 May 2006, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
May 9 SDDS International Reserves
(Hong Kong's Latest Foreign
Currency Reserve Assets
Figures)
May 15 SDDS Analytical Accounts of
the Central Bank (Exchange
Fund Balance Sheet Data)
May 26 Exchange Fund Abridged
Balance Sheet and Currency
Board Account
May 30 SDDS Template on
International Reserves and
Foreign Currency Liquidity
Ends/Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:45
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