January saw a 1.6% rise in total deposits with authorised institutions, with Hong Kong dollar deposits and foreign currency deposits up 2.4% and 0.7%, the Monetary Authority says. Renminbi deposits rose to RMB24.2 billion yuan, up RMB1.5 billion on the previous month.

Total loans and advances expanded 3.4%, with Hong Kong dollar and foreign currency loans up 3.8% and 2%. Loans for use in Hong Kong also grew 3.3% and loans for use outside rose 4.1%.

As Hong Kong dollar loans rose at a faster pace than Hong Kong dollar deposits, the Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio climbed to 75.7%, from a historical low of 74.7% last December.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Hong Kong dollar M1 dropped 0.7% in January but surged 13.1% from a year earlier. Both unadjusted Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 grew 2.3% during the month and 18.2% on a year-on-year comparison.