The Hong Kong government reported a fiscal deficit of HK$18.9 billion for the first month of the current fiscal year.
During the month of April, government expenditure totaled HK$63.4 billion while revenue reached HK$38.5 billion, according to a government press release on Friday.
The deficit figure is calculated after accounting for proceeds from government bonds issuance of HK$6.1 billion and bond repayments of HK$100 million.
A government spokesperson explained that the April deficit was mainly due to the timing of major revenue sources such as salaries tax and profits tax, which are typically collected later in the fiscal year.
As of the end of April, the government’s fiscal reserves amounted to HK$635.4 billion.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said that total deposits with authorized institutions in April increased by 0.6 percent month-on-month. Among them, Hong Kong dollar deposits dropped 0.7 percent and foreign currency deposits rose by 1.6 percent, mainly reflecting fund flows of corporates.
Last month, yuan deposits rebounded by 7.4 percent, reaching 1.0309 trillion yuan (HK$1.12 trillion).
Also, as of April, the total assets of the Exchange Fund stood at HK$3.9732 trillion, down HK$5.7 billion from the end of March, the HKMA said in a press release.
This included a HK$21.1 billion decrease in foreign currency assets and a HK$15.4 billion increase in Hong Kong dollar assets.
In the residential mortgage sector, the number of new mortgage applications fell by 7.8 percent monthly in April to 7,795 cases, according to the HKMA. However, the value of newly approved mortgage loans rose by 2.4 percent month-on-month to HK$25.3 billion.
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