International Comparisons


Official Reserve Assets and Other Foreign Currency Assets (Approximate Market Value)

Table    Publication schedule

Notes:

This table shows data for individual euro area countries and the ECB, as well as the corresponding euro area aggregates, on the assets held by individual central banks in currencies other than euro at the end of the reporting period. These assets are broken down into "official reserve assets" and "other foreign currency assets." Official reserve assets only comprise foreign currency claims on non-euro area residents. “Other foreign currency assets," by contrast, comprise foreign currency claims on euro area residents. This table is meant to offer a comprehensive overview of the foreign currency liquidity of the Eurosystem central banks.

Source:

ECB.

Definitions and terms:

Official reserve assets, other foreign currency assets, foreign currency reserves, securities, currency and deposits, reserve position in the IMF, Special Drawing Rights, gold (including gold deposits and gold swaps), financial derivatives, Eurosystem.

Legal basis:

2004/808/EC Guideline of the European Central Bank of 16 July 2004 on the statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank in the field of balance of payments and international investment position statistics, and the international reserves template (ECB/2004/15). IMF Articles of Agreement and Special Data Dissemination Standard.

Methodology:

Collected monthly.

Reporting institutions:

Euro area NCBs and the ECB (Eurosystem).

Standards and codes:

ISO country and currency codes. 2004/808/EC Guideline of the European Central Bank of 16 July 2004 on the statistical reporting requirements of the European Central Bank in the field of balance of payments and international investment position statistics, and the international reserves template (ECB/2004/15). IMF, 2001: International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity: Guidelines For A Data Template, Anne Y. Kester.