Hong Kong’s Foreign Currency Reserves at US$273.2 Billion

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February 9, 2011 - Hong Kong’s official foreign currency reserve assets amounted to US$273.2 billion at the end of January 2011, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), compared with US$268.7 billion at end December 2010.

Including unsettled forward contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of January 2011 also stood at US$273.2 billion, compared with US$268.9 billion at end-December 2010.

Hong Kong is the world’s ninth largest holder of foreign currency reserves based on the latest published figures, after Mainland China, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, India, Brazil and Korea .

The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$273.2 billion represent over eight times the currency in circulation or about 55% of Hong Kong dollar M3.

Commenting on the trend of growth in foreign currency reserves in the past year, Executive Director (Monetary Management) of the HKMA, Mr. Edmond Lau said that “in contrast with some of our Asian neighbors, such as Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia which recorded significant rise in foreign reserves in recent months, the increase in Hong Kong’s foreign reserves has been rather moderate because there was no net inflow of funds into Hong Kong in 2010.”