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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (January 7) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$182.5 billion at the end of December 2008 (end-November 2008: US$165.9 billion) (Table 1).
The US$16.6 billion increase in settled foreign currency assets in the month of December was due mainly to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars.
Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of December 2008 stood at US$184.8 billion (end-November 2008: US$166.0 billion).
Hong Kong is the world's eighth largest holder of foreign currency reserves based on the latest published figures, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, India, Brazil and Korea (Table 2).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$182.5 billion represent about eight times the currency in circulation or 44% of Hong Kong dollar M3.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Communications Chief, at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Communications), at 2878 1687
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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 January 2009, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
7 January
SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
14 January
SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund)
23 January
Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account
30 January
SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
Ends/Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:31
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