XN000022-1997-02-28 — Page 19

17.

Analysed by currency, HK$ loans rose by 5% while foreign currency loans fell by 2.7% during the month. As the increase in HK$ loans was larger than that of HK$ deposits, the HK$ loan-to-deposit ratio rose to 106.1% at end-January 1997 from 103.3% at end-December 1996.

Money Supply

HKSM1 surged by 11.5% in January, reflecting an increase of 11.4% in HK$ demand deposits and a rise of 11.6% in currency held by the public. HK$M2 and HK$M3 increased by 2.7% and 2.6% respectively, reversing the 0.7% decrease in the previous month. In the twelve months to January 1997, HK$M1 rose by 25.3%, HK$M2 increased by 21.4% while HK$M3 grew by 21.1%.