The Immigration Department announced today (April 8) that the period of visa-free entry for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport holders to Belarus will be extended from up to 14 days to 30 da… read more
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) released the 2018 Beach Water Quality Report today (April 8). The report indicates that all of the 41 gazetted beaches in Hong Kong complied with the Water Quality Objective (WQO) for bathing waters in that year, with 26 of them ranked as “good” and the remaining 15 ranked as “fair” in water quality.
An EPD spokesman said, “The beaches of Hong Kong have maintained 100 per cent full compliance with the WQO for nine consecutive years since 2010.
“The sustained improvement in beach water quality is the result of years of efforts to implement pollution control and environmental improvement measures, including the enforcement of the Water Pollution Control Ordinance, implementation of the Livestock Waste Control Scheme and the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme, and extension of sewerage to the beach hinterland according to Sewerage Master Plans.”
The spokesman added, “The EPD will maintain close monitoring and reporting of the water quality of all bathing beaches to safeguard the health of beachgoers and provide scientific data for supporting the formulation of water quality improvement policy.”
The 2018 Beach Water Quality Report can be found at the EPD’s website (www.epd.gov.hk/epd/beach).
The latest test results of the opening-up investigation in the second stage of the holistic assessment strategy for the Hung Hom Station Extension under the Shatin to Central Link (SCL) project (as at April 8) are now available at the Highways Department’s website for the SCL project (www.hyd.gov.hk/en/road_and_railway/railway_projects/scl/index.html) for reference by the public. read more
Police today (April 8) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Sau Mau Ping. Wong Kwok-hung, aged 85, went missing after he was last seen on Hiu Kwong Street yes… read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (April 8) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$437.9 billion as at the end of March 2019 (end-February 2019: US$434.4 billion) (Annex).
Including unsettled foreign exchange contracts, the foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong at the end of March 2019 amounted to US$429.4 billion (end-February 2019: US$427.2 billion).
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$437.9 billion represent about seven times the currency in circulation or 47 per cent of Hong Kong dollar M3.
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At present, four press releases relating to the Exchange Fund’s data are issued by the HKMA each month. Three of these releases are issued to disseminate monetary data in accordance with the International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). The fourth press release, on the Exchange Fund’s Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account, is made in accordance with the HKMA’s policy of maintaining a high level of transparency. For the month of April 2019, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
| April 8 | SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong’s Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures) |
| April 12 |
SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund) |
| April 30 | SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity |
| April 30 | Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account |