Hong Kong Monetary Authority

According to statistics published today (31 October 2000) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, both total deposits and loans of all authorised institutions decreased during the month of September. Table 1 provides a summary and comparison with earlier months.

Deposits

Total deposits decreased slightly by 0.5% in September, due mainly to declines in foreign currency deposits. As foreign currency deposits fell while Hong Kong dollar deposits rose, the share of Hong Kong dollar deposits in total deposits increased from 53% in August to 53.6% in September.

Hong Kong dollar deposits increased for the fourth consecutive month, rising by 0.7%. The rise was partly related to the Initial Public Offering of the MTRC. As the subscription money was temporarily placed as time deposits before the refund date, time deposits rose notably by 3.5%, while demand deposits and savings deposits shrank by 2.5% and 6.0% respectively.

Foreign currency deposits contracted by 1.9% in September. Of the total, US dollar deposits declined by 1.5%, while non-US dollar deposits contracted by 2.7%. The decline in the latter was likely a result of valuation changes.

Loans and advances

Total loans and advances shrank by 3.1% in September, after rising by 3.1% in the preceding month. Domestic loans declined slightly by 1.1% during the month, following a marked rise in the preceding month attributable to loans for a corporate acquisition. Meanwhile, loans for use outside Hong Kong contracted significantly by 9.6%.

Analysed by currency, Hong Kong dollar-denominated loans increased slightly by 0.3%, while foreign currency loans declined notably by 8.8% in September. As Hong Kong dollar deposits increased by more than Hong Kong dollar loans during the month, the Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio declined slightly from 91.8% in August to 91.4% in September.

Quarterly analysis of loans for use in Hong Kong by major economic sector

Analysed by economic use, loans for electricity, gas, and telecommunications saw the largest quarter-on-quarter rise (148%) in the third quarter of 2000 as a result of corporate acquisition loans, but their share in total domestic loans remained small at 3.5%. Loans for stockbrokers also rose notably by 69%, amid buoyant equity market activity. Loans for mortgages¹ remained stable, rising by 0.2%. Nevertheless, loans for wholesale and retail trade declined by 5.2%, while loans for building, construction, property development and investment, and trade financing decreased more moderately by 1.3% and 0.8% respectively.

Money supply

Hong Kong dollar M1 decreased slightly by 0.9% in September. The decline was mainly attributable to a drop in demand deposits, which more than offset a rise in currency held by the public. Both Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 increased by 0.6%. Compared with a year ago, Hong Kong dollar M1 rose by 4.1% in September, while both Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 increased by 5.2%.

The monthly release schedule of monetary statistics in Year 2001 is as follows.

Release Date	Reference Month
28 February 2001	January 2001
30 March 2001	February 2001
27 April 2001	March 2001
31 May 2001	April 2001
29 June 2001	May 2001
31 July 2001	June 2001
31 August 2001	July 2001
28 September 2001	August 2001
31 October 2001	September 2001
30 November 2001	October 2001
28 December 2001	November 2001
31 January 2002	December 2001

For further enquiries, please contact:

Caitlin Wong, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 October 2000

¹ Mortgage loans include loans for Home Ownership Scheme, Private Sector Participation Scheme, and Tenants Purchase Scheme.

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