International reserves and foreign currency liquidity

Publishing the “Data Template on International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity” is an obligation under the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). These data document the foreign currency assets of a country’s monetary authority and of its central government, as well as the central government’s foreign currency liabilities at the end of the reporting period. The data are disseminated on the basis of a uniform template provided by the IMF. The template was created in the wake of the financial crises of the 1990s, when the need for more transparent, high-quality data on foreign currency liquidity became clear (see also “International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity – Guidelines For A Data Template,“ IMF 2001). An ECB guideline (ECB/2004/15) provides exact definitions of positions and transactions involving international reserves of the Eurosystem central banks. The monthly data are published on the OeNB’s website and contain traditional balancesheet items as well as several off-balance sheet positions. In addition to the OeNB’s and the central government’s foreign currency positions, the data cover predetermined net inflows and net drains on foreign currency assets.