The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the results of the residential mortgage survey for April 2021.

     The number of mortgage applications in April decreased month-on-month by 7.7 per cent to 16 568.

     Mortgage loans approved in April decreased by 4.3 per cent compared with March to HK$50.8 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions decreased by 21.7 per cent to HK$7.6 billion and those financing secondary market transactions increased by 0.8 per cent to HK$36.5 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing decreased by 6.4 per cent to HK$6.7 billion. 

     Mortgage loans drawn down during April decreased by 2.4 per cent compared with March to HK$29.5 billion. 

     The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR increased from 95.7 per cent in March to 96.7 per cent in April. The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 1.8 per cent in March to 1.1 per cent in April.

     The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.7 per cent to HK$1,616.4 billion at end-April. 

     The mortgage delinquency ratio remained unchanged at 0.04 per cent and the rescheduled loan ratio remained unchanged at nearly 0 per cent.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released today (May 31) the analytical data on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's foreign currency reserves and foreign currency liquidity as at the end of April 2021 (Annex). These data are published monthly in the Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard.
     
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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 the 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 May 2021, the scheduled dates for issuing the press releases are as follows:
 

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited (HKMC) today (May 31) published its Annual Report for 2020. The Report reviews the business performance, corporate governance, and initiatives on corporate social responsibility of the HKMC in 2020.
      
     The Report is now available on the HKMC website (www.hkmc.com.hk).

     A man who went missing in Tin Sum has been located.

     Yau Man-hong, Andy, aged 39, went missing after he left a hostel on Chui Tin Street on February 5 morning. Staff of the hostel made a report to Police on the same day.

     The man was located in Hung Hom Estate this morning (May 31). He sustained no injuries and no suspicious circumstances were detected.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (May 31) that in view of a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in the State of Bremen in Germany, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the state with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

     A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 180 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 0.53 million poultry eggs from Germany in the first three months of this year.

     "The CFS has contacted the German authority over the issue and will closely monitor information issued by the OIE and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreak. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.