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 November 2020.
      
     The number of mortgage applications in November increased month-on-month by 4.3 per cent to 11,375.  
      
     Mortgage loans approved in November increased by 7.4 per cent compared with October to HK$37.2 billion. Among these, mortgage loans financing primary market transactions increased by 11.7 per cent to HK$6.1 billion and those financing secondary market transactions increased by 7.5 per cent to HK$26.5 billion. Mortgage loans for refinancing increased by 2 per cent to HK$4.7 billion. 
      
     Mortgage loans drawn down during November increased by 14.7 per cent compared with October to HK$25.5 billion. 
      
     The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to HIBOR increased from 94.4 per cent in October to 94.6 per cent in November. The ratio of new mortgage loans priced with reference to best lending rates decreased from 2.9 per cent in October to 2.5 per cent in November.
      
     The outstanding value of mortgage loans increased month-on-month by 0.6 per cent to HK$1,572.5 billion at end-November. 
      
     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:

     According to statistics published today (December 31) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, excluding the effects induced by the initial public offering (IPO) activities, total deposits and Hong Kong dollar deposits with authorized institutions would have decreased by 1.2 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively in November 2020, mainly due to withdrawals of deposits by large corporations for repayment of loans. The recent large-scale IPO activities brought a 6.4 per cent increase in total deposits in October, with Hong Kong dollar deposits increasing by 9.8 per cent. As these IPO activities ended and issuers returned application monies, total deposits decreased by 6.8 per cent in November. Among the total, Hong Kong dollar deposits declined by 12.6 per cent and overall foreign currency deposits edged down by 0.2 per cent. Renminbi deposits in Hong Kong increased by 5.6 per cent to RMB718.3 billion at the end of November. The total remittance of renminbi for cross-border trade settlement amounted to RMB526.3 billion in November, compared with RMB414.2 billion in October. It should be noted that changes in deposits are affected by a wide range of factors, such as interest rate movements and fund-raising activities. It is therefore unnecessary to overemphasise fluctuations in a single month.
      
     Excluding the effects induced by the IPO activities, total loans and advances would have decreased by 1.0 per cent in November. The recent large-scale IPO activities brought a 4.7 per cent increase in total loans and advances in October. As these IPO activities ended and customers repaid subscription loans, total loans and advances decreased by 8.7 per cent in November. Among the total, loans for use in Hong Kong (including trade finance) and loans for use outside Hong Kong decreased by 11.7 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively. The Hong Kong dollar loan-to-deposit ratio decreased to 82.7 per cent at the end of November from 84.0 per cent at the end of October, as Hong Kong dollar deposits decreased at a slower pace than Hong Kong dollar loans.
      
     Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 went down by 11.7 per cent and 11.6 per cent respectively in November, but both grew by 6.5 per cent compared to a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted Hong Kong dollar M1 increased by 6.3 per cent in November, and rose by 30.7 per cent compared to a year ago, reflecting in part investment-related activities. Total M2 and M3 both declined by 6.2 per cent in November, but expanded by 6.6 per cent from a year earlier. Excluding deposits created by IPO loans, Hong Kong dollar M2 and M3 would have decreased only by 2.0 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively in November. Total M2 and M3 both would have decreased only by 1.0 per cent in November.
      
     As monthly monetary statistics are subject to volatilities due to a wide range of transient factors, such as seasonal and IPO-related funding demand as well as business and investment-related activities, caution is required when interpreting the statistics.

     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (December 31) that in view of notifications from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of Korea about outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza in Pyeongtaek-si and Goyang-si of Gyeonggi-do Province; Iksan-si of Jeollabuk-do Province and Nonsan-si of Chungcheongnam-do Province in Korea; and a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza in Kherson Oblast in Ukraine, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

      A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, in the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong imported about 740 tonnes of chilled and frozen poultry meat and about 8.9 million poultry eggs from Korea; and about 2 160 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 66.6 million poultry eggs from Ukraine.

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

The following is issued on behalf of the Communications Authority:
 
     The Communications Authority (CA) has approved an application by HK Television Entertainment Company Limited (HKTVE), a domestic free television programme service (free TV) licensee, for changes in its shareholding structure arising from the restructuring of certain intermediate companies between HKTVE and PCCW Limited (PCCW), which indirectly control 50 per cent of the non-voting shares of HKTVE.
 
     According to HKTVE, the shareholding changes would not bring about any material changes to the legal and beneficial ownership of the licensee. Upon the completion of the changes in the shareholding structure of HKTVE today (December 31), a trust company named HKTVE (B Class) (PTC) Limited continues to control 100 per cent of HKTVE's voting shares, while another trust company named HKTVE (C Class) (PTC) Limited continues to control 50 per cent of the non-voting shares of HKTVE for the benefit of a PCCW subsidiary. PCCW continues to control the remaining 50 per cent of HKTVE's non-voting shares through its subsidiary.
 
     In approving the application, the CA is satisfied that HKTVE will continue to comply with all applicable regulatory requirements under the Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562) and its free TV licence, and that it will be able to honour the investment and programming commitments it has made under its licence after completion of the shareholding changes.

     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (December 31) released the latest grading of water quality for four gazetted beaches that are open all year round for swimming (see Note).

     Four beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1).

Grade 1 beaches are:           

     Under the present grading system, beaches are classified into four grades, namely Good (Grade 1), Fair (Grade 2), Poor (Grade 3) and Very Poor (Grade 4), according to the level of E. coli in the water. Grades are calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of the E. coli counts on the five most recent sampling occasions.

     A summary of beach grades is published weekly before the weekend. The latest beach grades based on the most current data may be obtained from the EPD's website on Beach Water Quality (www.epd.gov.hk/epd/beach) or the beach hotline, 2511 6666.

Note: In view of the latest situation of COVID-19, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced that all gazetted beaches were closed from December 10 until further notice.