1.8
Monetary statistics continued to be influenced by a
number of special factors. The overall growth rate of the
money supply was moderate during the first quarter, but these
total figures concealed a very buoyant foreign currency
component since the broadly defined Hong Kong dollar component
actually contracted (paragraph 3.2). During the first
quarter, loans and advances grew only very slowly (paragraphs
3.7 and 3.8), while local interest rates
interest rates were largely stable
(paragraph 3.9).
3