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Hong Kong said on Monday it will not shift away from having its currency pegged to the U.S. dollar for at least two years and that its exchange rate system was well equipped to deal with capital inflows.

"The (peg to the) dollar has served us well over the past two decades... As long as I am the chief executive, I am not going to shift that position," said Hong Kong CEO Donald Tsang after a speech in Singapore, when asked if he would keep the peg.

Tsang's term as chief executive expires in 2012.

Market talk speculating that Hong Kong could de-peg its currency resurfaced in the London forex market last week ahead of a visit to China by U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday.

"Hong Kong will have to swim or sink with the U.S. dollar," Mr. Tsang added.

"The U.S dollar linkage to Hong Kong is a very, very important factor for economic stability," he said, after an Asia Pacific leaders summit at the weekend in Singapore.

Funds have been pouring into Hong Kong asset markets for months, pushing the HK dollar to the top of its trading band and forcing the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to intervene to keep the HK dollar within its trading band.

On Friday, the HKMA had to spend $3.3-billion (U.S.) to keep the currency within its band. That was its biggest single-day intervention since the HKMA introduced a trading band for the HK dollar in May 2005.

Hong Kong's central bank said on Monday that it was fully committed to keeping the peg and that any appreciation of the Chinese yuan, also known as the renminbi, would not lead to an adjustment in the peg.

"The Hong Kong dollar is linked to the U.S. dollar not the renminbi," a spokesman for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority told Reuters. "There is no reason why any appreciation in the renminbi exchange rate, which has indeed happened since the reform of the renminbi exchange rate regime in 2005, should lead to re-pegging of the Hong Kong dollar at a different level.

"To do so will likely fail to relieve pressure on currency appreciation as it may invite market speculation on the likelihood of further band-widening or re-pegging in the future, thereby undermining the credibility of the linked exchange rate system."

The HKMA said the currency system was well equipped to deal with capital inflows, which it said were mainly destined for the stock market, particularly IPOs, on expectations that China's economy will continue to grow strongly and its currency will appreciate.

The spokesman did not specify what tools it had to fight asset bubbles.

Loose monetary policies around the world were fuelling capital inflows and creating asset bubbles in emerging markets, Mr. Tsang said in his speech to students on the financial crisis.

"Today, with zero, or near zero interest rate policies, we see a repeat of rapid carry trades and leveraged capital flows that are once again creating asset bubbles in the emerging markets," Mr. Tsang said.

Prices of mass market residential property in Hong Kong have surged more than 20 per cent this year, despite the economic downturn. Luxury property prices have soared more than 40 per cent, benefiting from excess liquidity globally and an influx of cash from newly-rich mainland Chinese.

Investors and policymakers have become anxious that potentially destabilizing asset bubbles are forming in equity and property markets, even as the world recovers from the crisis.

Leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) grouping, which includes Hong Kong, agreed on Sunday to undertake policies to prevent asset bubbles, but removed an earlier draft reference to market-oriented exchange rates after disagreement between the U.S. and China.

The U.S. dollar slipped on Monday as traders took the lack of agreement as a cue to sell the greenback.

"Some time in the future, we may need to look at the prospect of establishing an Asian currency regime as one of the building blocks of the global currency system," Mr. Tsang said.

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