Hong Kong yuan deposits down 0.4%

HONG KONG - Yuan deposits in Hong Kong declined 0.4 percent to 552.4 billion yuan ($86.71 billion) at the end of March, Hong Kong Monetary Authority said Thursday.

The figure shows total yuan remittance for cross-border trade settlement amounted to 177.1 billion yuan, compared with 227.3 billion yuan in the previous month.

Total deposits rose 1 percent in April, with a 0.7 percent increase in Hong Kong-dollar deposits, and a 1.4 percent rise in overall foreign-currency deposits.

Total loans and advances rose by 0.9 percent. Loans for use in Hong Kong climbed 0.8 percent and loans for use outside Hong Kong rose by 1.1 percent.

As Hong Kong-dollar loans contracted at a slower pace than deposits, the Hong Kong-dollar loan-to-deposit ratio edged down to 82.4 percent at the end of April from 82.5 percent a month earlier.

Seasonally adjusted Hong Kong-dollar M1 grew by 3.4 percent in April and expanded by 8.6 percent year on year. Unadjusted Hong Kong-dollar M3 rose by 0.6 percent during the month and increased 5.5 percent from a year earlier.