The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, today (August 31) extended his congratulations to Hong Kong cycling athletes Lee Wai-sze and the duo of Cheung King-lok and Leung Chun-wing on winning a gold medal in the Women's Sprint event and Men's Madison event of Track Cycling respectively in the 18th Asian Games, being held in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia.  

     Mr Lau said, "After defending her title in the Keirin event, Lee Wai-sze won a gold medal in the sprint event with her unstoppable determination and outstanding strength. Her excellent results have encouraged fellow Hong Kong athletes and we are proud of her achievements. Cheung King-lok and Leung Chun-wing have demonstrated excellent team spirit and adopted the right strategy to win a gold medal over strong fellow Asian contestants. They deserve our congratulations."

     The Hong Kong team has so far won 37 medals, namely six gold medals, 14 silver medals and 17 bronze medals, at this Asian Games. The list of other medals won from August 29 to today is as follows:

Today

Silver medal
————-
Cycling (Track): Women's Madison
Pang Yao and Yang Qianyu

August 30

Silver medal
————-
Cycling (Track): Men’s Omnium
Leung Chun-wing
 
August 29

Bronze medal
————–
Table Tennis: Mixed Doubles
Lee Ho-ching and Ho Kwan-kit

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     No open or closed meetings of the Legislative Council (LegCo) Committees will be held in the LegCo Complex during the week from September 3 to 7.
 

     The Government announced today (August 31) its financial results for the four months ended July 31, 2018.

     Expenditure for the period April to July 2018 amounted to HK$168.7 billion and revenue HK$126.3 billion, resulting in a cumulative year-to-date deficit of HK$42.4 billion.

     A government spokesperson said that the cumulative year-to-date deficit for the period was mainly due to the fact that some major types of revenue, including salaries and profits taxes, are mostly received towards the end of a financial year.

     The fiscal reserves stood at HK$1,060.5 billion as at July 31, 2018.

     Detailed figures are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

TABLE 1. CONSOLIDATED ACCOUNT (Note 1)
 

Government Debts as at July 31, 2018 (Note 3)
    HK$1,500 million
Debts Guaranteed by Government as at July 31, 2018 (Note 4)
    HK$24,339.8 million

TABLE 2. FISCAL RESERVES
 

Notes:

1. This Account consolidates the General Revenue Account and the following eight Funds: Capital Works Reserve Fund, Capital Investment Fund, Civil Service Pension Reserve Fund, Disaster Relief Fund, Innovation and Technology Fund, Land Fund, Loan Fund and Lotteries Fund. It excludes the Bond Fund, the balance of which is not part of the fiscal reserves. The Bond Fund balance as at July 31, 2018 was HK$145,105 million.

2. Includes transactions with the Exchange Fund and resident banks.

3. These were the outstanding institutional notes as at July 31, 2018, which were denominated in Hong Kong dollars with maturity in July 2019. They do not include the outstanding bonds with nominal value of HK$105,834 million and alternative bonds with nominal value of US$3,000 million (equivalent to HK$23,547 million as at July 31, 2018) issued under the Government Bond Programme (with proceeds credited to the Bond Fund). Of these bonds under the Government Bond Programme (including Silver Bonds with nominal value of HK$5,834 million, which may be redeemed before maturity upon request from bond holders), bonds with nominal value of HK$10,000 million were repaid upon maturity on August 7, 2018; bonds with nominal value of HK$23,200 million will mature within the period from September 2018 to July 2019 and the rest within the period from August 2019 to March 2032.

4. Includes guarantees provided under the SME Loan Guarantee Scheme launched in 2001, the Special Loan Guarantee Scheme launched in 2008, the Special Concessionary Measures under the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme launched in 2012, and a commercial loan of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation.

5. Includes HK$219,730 million being the balance of the Land Fund held in the name of the "Future Fund" as from January 1, 2016, for long-term investments initially up to December 31, 2025. As from July 1, 2016, the Future Fund also includes HK$4,800 million, being one-third of the actual surplus in 2015-16 as top-up.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (August 31) that the total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to HK$4,144.4 billion as at July 31, 2018, HK$43.6 billion higher than that at the end of June 2018. Foreign currency assets increased by HK$15.4 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets increased by HK$28.2 billion.

     The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to an increase in unsettled purchases of securities and mark-to-market gains on foreign currency portfolios, which were partly offset by the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness. The rise in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to an increase in Exchange Fund Bills and Notes issued but not yet settled, which was partly offset by the withdrawals of placements by Fiscal Reserves.
 
     The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of July 2018 was HK$1,645.1 billion, decreased by HK$7.0 billion, or 0.4 per cent, from the end of June 2018. The decline was mainly due to the decrease in the outstanding amount of Certificates of Indebtedness.
 
     The amount of Backing Assets decreased by HK$6.3 billion, or 0.3 per cent, to HK$1,796.1 billion. The decrease was mainly attributable to the redemption of Certificates of Indebtedness, which was partly offset by income from investments. The backing ratio increased from 109.10 per cent at the end of June 2018 to 109.18 per cent at the end of July 2018.
 
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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 August 2018, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
 

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (August 31) the analytical data on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's foreign currency reserves and foreign currency liquidity as at the end of July 2018 (Annex). These data are published monthly in the Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard.
 
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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 August 2018, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows: