The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     According to statistics published today (May 31) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, total deposits with authorized institutions grew by 3.2 per cent in April 2018. As the increase in demand deposits exceeded the decrease in savings and time deposits, Hong Kong-dollar deposits rose by 5.1 per cent during the month. Overall foreign-currency deposits picked up by 1.0 per cent in April. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong increased by 7.8 per cent to RMB597.6 billion at the end of April. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB326.4 billion in April, compared with RMB335.6 billion in March.
 
     Total loans and advances rose by 3.3 per cent in April. The loan growth in April 2018 was mainly driven by initial public offering (IPO) loans (around HK$284 billion) straddling the end of April. Excluding IPO loans, the loan growth in April would have been 0.3 per cent. Among the total, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) expanded by 4.3 per cent from a month ago while loans for use outside Hong Kong grew by 0.9 per cent. As Hong Kong-dollar loans increased at a faster pace than Hong Kong-dollar deposits, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio went up to 84.1 per cent at the end of April from 83.2 per cent at the end of March.
 
     Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 rose by 2.6 per cent in April and expanded by 15.6 per cent year on year. Seasonally unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 went up by 4.8 per cent during the month and rose by 13.6 per cent from a year earlier.

Ends/Thursday, May 31, 2018
Issued at HKT 16:30

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