China News Service, Hong Kong, August 28. The Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Chen Maobo, published a blog on the 28th, saying that as the interest rate spread between Hong Kong and the United States narrowed slightly, the Hong Kong dollar selling in the market recently decreased slightly, and the balance of the Hong Kong banking system remained at about 120 billion Hong Kong dollars.

However, in recent days, the market's expectation of a sharp interest rate hike in the United States has increased again, which may lead to a new round of interest rate carry activities, which will once again bring selling pressure to the Hong Kong dollar.

  Chen Maobo said that US Federal Reserve Chairman Powell reiterated the importance of price stability in his speech at the annual meeting of global central banks a few days ago, and made it clear that monetary policy would not be eased "prematurely".

His remarks deepened the market's expectations that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates significantly and faster.

  Chen Maobo said that if the Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 0.75% in September, it will be the third time in the U.S. rate hike cycle that the U.S. has raised interest rates at this rate for the third time in a row. 3%, the target range of the federal funds rate will rise to the level of 3% to 3.25%. If the United States raises interest rates significantly, it also means that carry trades and Hong Kong dollar selling are likely to occur again, and the pressure of rising interest rates in Hong Kong will also increase. will increase.

  He went on to say that even though interest rate spreads and arbitrage activities have led to an increase in Hong Kong exchange selling orders in the past few months, the total deposits of Hong Kong authorized institutions rose slightly by 0.4% in the first half of this year, reflecting that "selling Hong Kong dollars" is not the same as "funding outflows" , and will not affect the financial and monetary stability of Hong Kong, as the above-mentioned interest margin factors and carry-forward activities are all within the expectations of the linked exchange rate system.

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