Interest income grew by 162% over the year and interest expense by 178%. In total, interest income increased by 15.6 b.kr. and interest expense by 13.7 b.kr. to leave net interest income of 1.9 b.kr. Operating expenses, i.e. salary and payroll expenses and other operating expenses, were 1.5 b.kr., depreciation 90 m.kr. and a supplementary contribution to the Bank Employees’ Pension Fund 386 m.kr., in accordance with an agreement between the Fund and its member organisations. By law, the transfer to the Treasury is calculated as one-third of net profit, i.e. 16 m.kr. Profit after transfer to the Treasury but excluding exchange rate gain therefore amounted to 32 m.kr. In 2006, the Central Bank's balance sheet total increased by 159 b.kr. to almost 322 b.kr. at the end of the year. The main explanation is that total Treasury deposits in the Central Bank rose by 135 b.kr. over 2006 to 211 b.kr. at the end of the year. The balance on Government current accounts increased by 47 b.kr. and the deposit in the foreign currency account amounted to 94 b.kr. at the end of the year. Most of the foreign currency deposit is accounted for by the € billion loan taken by the Treasury towards the end of the year to boost the Central Bank's foreign reserves. Notes and coin in circulation grew by 10% to 14.5 b.kr. and the Central Bank's liabilities towards deposit money banks by just over 10 b.kr.
Mr. Yam speaks on defending Hong Kong’s monetary stability Speech by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Mr. Joseph Yam, JP, at the TDC Networking Luncheon in Singapore on 14/10/98. … As I am sure you have noticed, Hong Kong, and specifically the involvement of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in the stock and futures markets in August, has been the subject of some controversy recently. This is understandable, for Hong Kong has always been in favour of leaving markets alone, as much as possible. Indeed, Hong Kong has for many years been named as one of the freest, if not the freest, markets in the world. For the authorities in Hong Kong to go into the stock and futures markets to buy shares and stock futures contracts in such a big way naturally came as a surprise to every one, apart from the few of us who had the unenviable task of taking the very difficult decisions. Clearly the responsibility of public office includes taking difficult decisions in the overall public interest, and one must take them with courage and execute them with commitment. Furthermore, one must also try one’s best to explain the rationale behind them, and be transparent in, and accountable for, the actions taken. Difficult and controversial decisions can be easily misunderstood, even by the most learned man on earth. So we need to present the arguments patiently and clearly. This has not been easy.