XN000022-1997-02-28 — Page 18

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Monetary statistics for January 1997

According to statistics published today (Friday) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), both deposits and loans and advances increased during January 1997.

months.

Table 1 summarises figures for January 1997 and comparisons with earlier

Deposits

Total deposits rose by 1.4% in January 1997, reversing the fall of 1.1% in December 1996. This resulted from increases in both HK$ and foreign currency deposits of 2.2% and 0.3% respectively.

The increase in HK$ deposits was led by rises in demand and time deposits, which outweighed the fall in savings deposits. Demand deposits surged further by 11.4% in January, following a 8.3% growth in the previous month, while time deposits grew by 2.4%, having fallen by 3.5% in December 1996. The rapid rise of demand deposits might reflect the increase in transaction demand for money ahead of the Chinese New Year and the buoyancy of asset markets. On the other hand, savings deposits fell by 1.2%, having risen for five consecutive months by a total of 12.8%.

US$ deposits dropped further by 0.3% during January, following a 2.7% decrease in the previous month. On the other hand, non-US$ foreign currency deposits rose by 0.9%. As a result, total foreign currency deposits registered a 0.3% rise in January.

Loans and Advances

Total loans and advances rose slightly by 0.1% in January, following a fall of 0,2% in December 1996. Domestic credit rose by 3.8%, contributed by a 0.2% increase in loans for trade financing and a 4.2% increase in other loans for use in Hong Kong. The notable growth in other loans for use in Hong Kong was partly attributable to property-related lending and partly to the credit demand for settling payments before the Chinese New Year. The result of the January 1997 Residential Mortgage Survey of 33 authorized institutions revealed that outstanding residential mortgage loans grew by 2.6% during the month. Offshore loans dropped by 3.1% in January, in part due to the valuation effect stemming from the depreciation of Japanese Yen, since the bulk of these loans are Euro-yen loans booked in Hong Kong.