Editorial | Hong Kong cannot take its Exchange Fund’s stellar year for granted
The fund posted a record gain last year, boosting the Hong Kong government’s fiscal health, but global headwinds must be heeded
He is right to be cautious as the challenges are both domestic and external. Quite simply, given the high volatility of global capital markets, such outperformance cannot be taken for granted year after year.
The primary function of the fund, after all, is to protect the central pillar of the city’s monetary system, the US dollar peg.
The fund’s full-year earnings jumped 51 per cent to HK$331 billion (US$42 billion), compared with HK$218.8 billion in 2024, surpassing the previous record of HK$264 billion set in 2017.
Its contributions to the government’s coffers hit HK$16.5 billion last year, compared with HK$13.2 billion in 2024. Total assets reached HK$4.151 trillion.
The fund was firing on all cylinders, as even Yue admitted it was rare for all its main investment components to record positive returns in a single year, noting that it had happened only twice before – in 2017 and 2020.