The Lands Department announced today (November 6) that, in respect of the tender for the site Kowloon Inland Lot No. 11301 at Fat Kwong Street, Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, which was awarded on October 6 to the successful tendere… read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published today (November 6) the results of the Survey on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)’ Credit Conditions for the third quarter of 2026. According to the survey, SMEs’ credit conditions improved slightly.
Regarding SMEs’ perception of banks’ credit approval stance relative to six months ago, excluding respondents who answered “no idea/don’t know”, 83 per cent perceived a “similar” or “easier” credit approval stance in the third quarter of 2026, up from 78 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 1 in the Annex). 17 per cent perceived a “more difficult” credit approval stance, compared to 22 per cent in the previous quarter. The perception of a more difficult credit approval stance may not necessarily reflect actual difficulties faced by SMEs in obtaining bank credit as the perception could be affected by a number of factors, such as media/news reports, business conditions and opinions of relatives and friends.
Among respondents with existing credit lines, 2 per cent reported a “tighter” banks’ stance, down from 4 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 2 in the Annex). In this survey, a tighter stance on existing credit lines denotes a range of possible measures or arrangements, such as reducing unused and used credit lines, raising the interest rate, imposing additional collateral requirements, or shortening loan tenor. Therefore, respondents’ indication of banks’ stance on existing credit lines may not directly reflect banks’ supply of credit to SMEs.
The survey also gauged the results of new credit applications from SMEs. 2 per cent of the respondents reported that they had applied for new bank credit during the third quarter of 2026. Among the respondents who had already known their application outcomes, 78 per cent reported fully or partially successful applications, down from 85 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 3 in the Annex).
Owing to small sample sizes of SMEs with existing credit lines (18 per cent of surveyed SMEs) and with new credit applications (2 per cent of surveyed SMEs) during the quarter, the results could be prone to large fluctuations, and hence should be interpreted with care.
About Survey on SMEs’ Credit Conditions
In light of the importance of SMEs to the Hong Kong economy and concerns about potential funding difficulties facing SMEs over the past few years, the HKMA has appointed the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to carry out this survey, starting from the third quarter of 2016. This survey is conducted on a quarterly basis, covering about 2 500 SMEs from different economic sectors each time. The results of this survey can help monitor the development of SMEs’ access to bank credit from a demand-side perspective.
The results of this survey should be interpreted with caution. Similar to other opinion surveys, views collected in this survey may be affected by changes in sentiment due to idiosyncratic events that occurred over the survey period, which can make the results prone to fluctuations. Readers are advised to interpret the results together with other economic and financial information. In addition, views collected are limited to the expected direction of inter-quarter changes (e.g. “tighter”, “no change” or “easier”) without providing information about the magnitude of these changes.
Detailed tables and technical information of this survey are published on the website of the HKPC (smecc.hkpc.org). read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (November 6) that the official foreign currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to US$440.5 billion as at the end of October 2026 (end-September 2026: US$432.9 billion) (Annex).
There were no unsettled foreign exchange contracts at end-October and end-September 2026.
The total foreign currency reserve assets of US$440.5 billion represent over five times the currency in circulation or about 36 per cent of Hong Kong dollar M3.
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At present, four press releases relating to the Exchange Fund’s data are issued by the HKMA each month. Three of these releases are issued to disseminate monetary data in accordance with International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). The fourth press release, on the Exchange Fund’s Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account, is made in accordance with the HKMA’s policy of maintaining a high level of transparency. For the month of November 2026, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
| November 6 | SDDS International Reserves (Hong Kong’s Latest Foreign Currency Reserve Assets Figures) |
| November 13 | SDDS Analytical Accounts of the Central Bank (Analytical Accounts of the Exchange Fund) |
| November 30 | SDDS Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity |
| November 30 | Exchange Fund Abridged Balance Sheet and Currency Board Account |
The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Friday, November 6, 2026 is 100.3 (up 0.3 as yesterday’s index). read more
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (November 6) released the latest grading of water quality for 11 gazetted beaches that are open for swimming in November.
Eight beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1) and three as Fair (Grade 2).
Grade 1 beaches are:
| Big Wave Bay Beach | Middle Bay Beach |
| Clear Water Bay Second Beach | Repulse Bay Beach |
| Deep Water Bay Beach | Silver Mine Bay Beach |
| Golden Beach | Stanley Main Beach |
| Casam Beach | Silverstrand Beach |
| Lido Beach |