Total deposits with authorised institutions grew for the fourth consecutive month by 0.6% in July. The increase was attributable to a 1.6% rise in foreign currency deposits, which exceeded a decline of 0.2% in Hong Kong dollar deposits.

According to statistics published by the Monetary Authority today, total loans and advances shrank by 1.2% in July.

The drop was broad-based, with loans for use inside Hong Kong falling 1.1% and those for outside Hong Kong falling 1.9%.

Analysed by currency, Hong Kong-dollar-denominated loans and foreign-currency loans both recorded a small decline.

As deposits decreased less than loans, the Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio fell to 85.8% in July.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 grew 0.8% during the month and 18.2% from a year ago.

Unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 both dropped by 0.1% during the month, but rose by 1.9% on a year-on-year comparison.