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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (November 11) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$131.2 billion at the end of October 2006 (end-September 2006: US$130.3 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of October 2006 also stood at US$131.2 billion (end-September 2006: US$130.3 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's seventh largest holder of foreign currency reserves, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Korea and India (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$131.2 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 38% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Sara Yip, Manager (Press), at 2878 8246 or
Hing-fung Wong, Officer (Press), at 2878 1802
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
7 November 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 November 2006, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
November 7 SDDS International Reserves (Hong
Kong's Latest Foreign Currency
Reserve Assets Figures)
November 14 SDDS Analytical Accounts of the
Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of
the Exchange Fund)
November 30 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet
and Currency Board Account
November 30 SDDS Template on International
Reserves and Foreign Currency
Liquidity
Ends/Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:30
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