The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced on January 7 that Hong Kong's official foreign currency assets amounted to 96.3 billion US dollars at the end of December 1999.

According to an HKMA spokesperson, the 4.2 billion US dollars increase in settled foreign currency assets in the month of December was mainly due to the issue of additional currency notes,which are backed by US dollars deposited by the note issuing banks with the Exchange Fund.

In terms of foreign currency reserves ranking, Hong Kong is nowthe world's fourth largest holder of foreign currency reserves after Japan, China's mainland and Taiwan.

The total foreign currency assets of 96.3 billion US dollars, including unsettled forward contracts, represent over six times the currency in circulation or about 39 percent of Hong Kong dollar, one of the highest ratios in the world.