Hong Kong Monetary Authority – Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (Wednesday) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$4,581.8 billion as at 28 February 2021, HK$46.9 billion higher than that at the end of January 2021. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$43.8 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$3.1 billion.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly from the increase in Fiscal Reserves placements after issuance of the HKSAR Government’s Green Bonds and the increase in the month-end balances of unsettled purchase of securities. The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to the mark-to-market valuation on Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of February 2021 was HK$2,117.0 billion, increased by HK$1.2 billion, or 0.1%, from the end of January 2021. The rise was mainly due to an increase in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness. Since the amount of Backing Assets remained unchanged at HK$2,324.6 billion, the backing ratio decreased slightly from 109.87% at the end of January 2021 to 109.80% at the end of February 2021.

Annex 1: Abridged Balance Sheet of the Exchange Fund
Annex 2: Currency Board Account

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
31 March 2021

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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 March 2021, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: