Press Release
Exchange Fund Balance Sheet Data

Balance sheet data at end-September

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (14 October) key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at end-September 1999, reporting an increase of HK$ 7.8 billion in the foreign assets of the Exchange Fund during the month.

Foreign assets, representing the external assets of the Exchange Fund, amounted to HK$662.8 billion. The Monetary Base, comprising Certificates of Indebtedness and coins issued, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued, amounted to HK$200.8 billion. Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$55.9 billion.

The balance sheet data of the Exchange Fund are released on a monthly basis in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and are referred to as the Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank under SDDS (Annex 1).

Release calendar

The release calendar of Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank for 2000 is announced below:

Annex 1

Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank
(in millions of Hong Kong dollars)

	Monetary Base (1)	Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government (2)	Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong (3)	Foreign Assets (4)	Foreign Liabilities (5)
31 Jan 1999	196,520	0	80,078	655,955	310
28 Feb 1999	203,042	0	71,566	661,465	46
31 March 1999	199,433	0	68,142 r	655,862	25
30 April 1999	198,256	0	60,145	656,843	20
31 May 1999	197,281	0	57,826	652,107	8
30 June 1999	196,479	0	62,106	645,393	35
31 July 1999	196,041	0	48,389	654,866	47
31 August 1999	196,568	0	54,623	655,054	40
30 September 1999	200,768	0	55,914	662,831	489

r - revised figure

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(1) The Monetary Base comprises Certificates of Indebtedness (for backing the currency notes) and coins issued, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued.

(2) Claims on the Hong Kong SAR Government refer to any lending to the Government.

(3) Claims on the Private Sector in Hong Kong include bank deposits and investments in debt securities issued by public sector entities in Hong Kong held by the Exchange Fund.

(4) Foreign Assets represent the external assets of the Exchange Fund and exclude foreign currency deposits placed with banks in Hong Kong.

(5) Foreign Liabilities include margin payable on securities transactions, fees payable to the Exchange Fund's external managers and obligations under repurchase agreements.

 

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

14 October 1999