Hong Kong witnessed a decrease of 15 billion HK dollars (1.93 billion US dollars) in the foreign assets of the Exchange Fund during October, announced the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Monday.

The Authority, which released key data on the balance sheet of the Exchange Fund at the end of October 2005, said foreign assets, representing the external assets of the Exchange Fund, amounted to 864 billion HK dollars (112.2 billion US dollars).

For the Monetary Base which comprised Certificates of Indebtedness, Government-issued currency notes and coins in circulation, the Aggregate Balance of the banking system and Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued, amounted to 278.2 billion HK dollars (36.1 billion US dollars).

Claims on the private sector in Hong Kong amounted to 81.3 billion HK dollars (10.47 billion US dollars). Foreign liabilities, representing mainly obligations under repurchase agreements, amounted to 2.3 billion HK dollars (296 million US dollars).

Source: Xinhua