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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (September 7) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$138.3 billion at the end of August 2007 (end-July 2007: US$137.1 billion) (Table 1).
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of August 2007 also stood at US$138.3 billion (end-July 2007: US$137.1 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's ninth largest holder of foreign currency reserves based on the latest published figures, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Korea, India, Brazil and Singapore (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$138.3 billion represent about seven times the currency in circulation or 36% 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
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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 2007, 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 21 Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet
and Currency Board Account
September 28 SDDS Template on International
Reserves and Foreign Currency
Liquidity
Ends/Friday, September 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:31
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