The Monetary Authority announced today that at the end of April the total assets of the Exchange Fund stood at $979.1 billion, $19.4 billion higher than the month before.

Foreign currency assets increased by $21.1 billion while Hong Kong dollar assets decreased by $1.7 billion.

Figures in the Currency Board Account show that the monetary base at the end of April was $251.8 billion, an increase of $900 million, or 0.4%, from the end of March.

The backing assets increased by $1.3 billion, or 0.4%, from $280.8 billion to $282.1 billion. Reflecting this, the backing ratio increased from 111.96%, at the end of March, to 112.03% at the end of April.

The authority also said that total deposits with authorised institutions rose by 0.5% in April, as a 1.4% increase in foreign currency deposits outweighed a decline of 0.2% in Hong Kong dollar deposits.

Total loans and advances shrank by 0.7% in April. The drop was broad-based, with loans for use in Hong Kong and outside Hong Kong falling by 0.7% and 1% respectively.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 grew by 12.4% over a year ago. Unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 were both dropped by 1.1% and 1.0% respectively on a year-on-year comparison.