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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
According to statistics published today (April 29) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions increased by 1.2% in March. As the increase in demand and savings deposits exceeded the decrease in time deposits, Hong Kong-dollar deposits rose by 1.3% during the month. Overall foreign-currency deposits grew by 1.0% in March. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong declined by 5.5% to RMB759.4 billion at the end of March. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB370.7 billion in March, compared with RMB279.8 billion in February.
Total loans and advances picked up by 0.7% in March. Among the total, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) and loans for use outside Hong Kong increased by 0.7% and 0.6% respectively from a month ago. As Hong Kong-dollar loans increased at a slower pace than Hong Kong-dollar deposits, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio edged down to 78.2% at the end of March from 78.3% at the end of February.
In the first quarter of 2016, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) edged up by 0.1% after growing by 0.2% in the previous quarter. Analysed by economic use, residential mortgage loans and loans to building, construction, property development and investment expanded, while trade finance and loans to wholesale and retail trade continued to decline.
Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 rose by 2.7% in March and expanded by 17.3% year on year. Seasonally unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 picked up by 1.1% during the month and grew by 3.6% from a year earlier.
Ends/Friday, April 29, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:33
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