XN000022-1985-03-08 — Page 13

TOTAL MONEY SUPPLY

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FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1985

TOTAL MONEY SUPPLY ALSO ROSE ON ALL DEFINITIONS. TOTAL M1 ROSE BY 3.9 PER CENT, REFLECTING THE SIGNIFICANT RISE IN THE HONG KONG DOLLAR COMPONENT. TOTAL M2 WAS 2.0 PER CENT HIGHER AND TOTAL M3 0.5 PER CENT. THE GROWTH RATES IN DECEMBER, WHICH WERE SUBJECT TO SEASONAL INFLUENCES, WERE 5.3 PER CENT, 4.6 PER CENT AND 3.8 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY. THE CORRESPONDING GROWTH RATES OVER THE THREE MONTHS TO JANUARY WERE 14.0 PER CENT, 9.0 PER CENT AND 6.0 PER CENT, AND OVER THE TWELVE MONTHS WERE 6.3 PER CENT, 19.2 PER CENT AND 20.6 PER CENT.

LOANS AND ADVANCES

LOANS AND ADVANCES EXTENDED BY BANKS AND DEPOSIT-TAKING COMPANIES GREW ONLY MARGINALLY, BY 0.1 PER CENT IN JANUARY FOLLOWING 0.3 PER CENT IN DECEMBER. OVER THE THREE MONTHS TO JANUARY, THESE GREW BY 1.5 PER CENT AND OVER THE TWELVE MONTHS BY 7.5 PER CENT.

LOANS TO FINANCE VISIBLE TRADE FELL FURTHER BY 6.3 PER CENT IN JANUARY, AFTER A DECREASE OF 0.7 PER CENT IN DECEMBER. WHILE THEY FELL BY 6.6 PER CENT OVER THE LATEST THREE MONTHS, THEY WERE STILL 4.3 PER CENT HIGHER OVER THE TWELVE MONTHS. HOWEVER, WHEN LOANS IN THE FORM OF BANK ACCEPTANCES AND BANK BILLS OF EXCHANGE TO FINANCE EXPORTS FROM HONG KONG ARE INCLUDED, THE DECREASE IN JANUARY WAS LESS, AT 4.6 PER CENT, OTHER LOANS FOR USE IN HONG KONG CONTINUED TO GROW SLOWLY, BY 0.8 PER CENT, COMPARED WITH AN INCREASE OF 0.7 PER CENT IN DECEMBER. IN THE THREE MONTHS TO JANUARY, THEY ROSE BY 3.0 PER CENT AND OVER THE TWELVE MONTHS BY 6.5 PER CENT,

FOREIGN CURRENCY ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

THE SPOT FOREIGN CURRENCY POSITION OF THE MONETARY SECTOR SHOWED NET ASSETS AT $4.6 BILLION AT THE END OF JANUARY, ROUGHLY THE SAME AS AT THE END OF DECEMBER, SIMILAR STATISTICS COLLECTED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF BANKING AND DEPOSIT-TAKING COMPANIES (ON THE BASIS OF SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS) SHOWED NET SPOT FOREIGN CURRENCY ASSETS OF $3.7 BILLION AND NET FORWARD FOREIGN CURRENCY ASSETS OF $21.5 BILLION, BOTH MARGINALLY HIGHER THAN CORRESPONDING FIGURES IN DECEMBER 1984.

/LIQUIDITY RATIO