Hong Kong Monetary Authority: The Hong Kong dollar money supply M2 and M3 both increased by 1.2% year-on-year in March.

The statistics released by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority today (April 30th) show that in March, both the Hong Kong dollar money supply M2 and M3 increased by 0.6%, compared to the same period last year, they both increased by 1.2%. The seasonally adjusted Hong Kong dollar money supply M1 increased by 1.5% in March, a 13.3% increase compared to the same period last year, reflecting some investment-related activities. The total money supply M2 and M3 both increased by 0.2% in March, compared to the same period last year, M2 and M3 both increased by 9.3%. The aggregate deposits of authorized institutions increased by 0.1% in March 2026, with Hong Kong dollar deposits rising by 0.7% and foreign currency deposits falling by 0.3%. In the first quarter of 2026, total deposits and Hong Kong dollar deposits increased by 1.0% and 1.9% respectively. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong increased by 0.6% in March, reaching 103.52 billion yuan by the end of March. The total amount of renminbi remittances for cross-border trade settlement was 1.29 trillion yuan in March, compared to 866.5 billion yuan in February. Deposit changes are influenced by multiple factors, including interest rate trends, market fundraising activities, etc., so it is appropriate to observe longer-term trends without overly interpreting fluctuations in individual months. Total loans and advances increased by 1.3% in March, and increased by 3.0% in the first quarter of 2026. Loans used in Hong Kong (including trade financing) increased by 1.8% in March, while loans used outside of Hong Kong decreased by 0.1% in March. Due to the larger increase in Hong Kong dollar deposits compared to Hong Kong dollar loans, the loan-to-deposit ratio decreased from 72.4% at the end of February to 72.3% at the end of March. Loans used in Hong Kong (including trade financing) continued to increase by 0.2% in the previous quarter, and rose by 3.0% in the first quarter of 2026. In terms of economic use, the increase in loans in the first quarter was mainly driven by loans to financial companies and trade financing activities.