HK Deposits Rose In July

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

01 September 2006

According to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), total deposits with authorised institutions rose 0.7% in July, as Hong Kong dollar deposits and foreign currency deposits grew 0.04% and 1.6%. Renminbi deposits fell 0.1% to RMB22.7 billion.

Total loans and advances grew 0.2% in July, as an increase of 2.3% in loans for use outside Hong Kong outweighed a drop of 0.1% in loans for use inside.

Hong Kong dollar loans dropped 0.2%, but foreign currency loans rose 1.5%. As Hong Kong dollar loans declined but deposits were little changed, the loan-to-deposit ratio fell 80.8%.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 grew 0.8% in July but dropped 1.8% from a year earlier. Unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 rose 0.1% and 0.2% during the month.

On a year-on-year comparison, Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 rose 12.5% and 12.6%.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's official reserve assets reached US$127.4 billion at the end of July. Foreign currency reserves amounted to US$125 billion, gold amounted to US$43 million and other reserve assets amounted to US$2.35 billion. During the month, other foreign currency assets reached US$25 million.

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