The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (October 13) the key analytical accounts of the Exchange Fund at the end of September 2017.
 
     Foreign assets, representing the external assets of the Exchange Fund, increased during the month by HK$36.0 billion to HK$3,401.5 billion.
 
     The Monetary Base, comprising Certificates of Indebtedness, Government‑issued currency notes and coins in circulation, the balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued, amounted to HK$1,680.8 billion.
 
     Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to HK$229.4 billion.
 
     Foreign liabilities, representing fees payable to the Exchange Fund's external managers, amounted to HK$0.4 billion.
 
     The analytical accounts of the Exchange Fund are released 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).
 
Release calendar
 
     The release calendar of the Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund for 2018 is announced below:
 

Reference Month	Release Date
January 2018	February 14, 2018
February 2018	March 14, 2018
March 2018	April 13, 2018
April 2018	May 14, 2018
May 2018	June 14, 2018
June 2018	July 13, 2018
July 2018	August 14, 2018
August 2018	September 14, 2018
September 2018	October 12, 2018
October 2018	November 14, 2018
November 2018	December 14, 2018
December 2018	January 14, 2019

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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 October 2017, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
 

October 9  (Issued)	SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong's Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures)
October 13	SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank  (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund)
October 31	SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity
October 31	Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account

Ends/Friday, October 13, 2017
Issued at HKT 17:05

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