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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$128.9 billion at the end of August 2006 (end-July 2006: US$127.4 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of August 2006 also stood at US$128.9 billion (end-July 2006: US$127.4 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$128.9 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, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802 or
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480
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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 2006, 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
(Analytical Accounts of the
Exchange Fund)
September 29 Exchange Fund Abridged
Balance Sheet and
Currency Board Account
September 29 SDDS Template on
International Reserves and
Foreign Currency Liquidity
Ends/Thursday, September 7, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:32
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