Foreign currency reserves rise a puny 1% in December

One of Hong Kong’s defenses against a recession has again inched upwards.

The city’s official foreign currency reserve assets rose slightly to US$285.4 billion at the end of December, up by a scant one percent or US$2.9 billion on November's figure, said the Hong Kong Monetary Authority or central bank.

Including unsettled forward contracts, the figures were the same for November and October.

The total foreign currency reserve assets were more than eight times the currency in circulation or 55% of the Hong Kong dollar M3.

In November, the official foreign currency reserve assets amounted to US$282.5 billion as at the end of November 2011, a slight 0.28% improvement over the end-October figure of US$281.7 billion.

Total foreign currency reserve assets of US$282.5 billion in November represented about 55% of the Hong Kong dollar M3 or nine times the currency in circulation.