List of countries by foreign exchange reserves

See also: List of countries by foreign exchange reserves

At the end of 2007, 63.90% of the identified official foreign exchange reserves in the world were held in United States dollars and 26.5% in euros [1].

Monetary Authorities with the largest foreign reserves in 2009.

Rank Country/Monetary Authority billion USD (end of month) 1 People's Republic of China $ 2273 (Sep 2009) 1[1] 2 Japan $ 1019 (Jun 2009)[2] - Eurozone $ 531 (Feb 2009) 3 Russia $ 429 (Oct 2009) 2 [3] 4 Taiwan $ 321.09 (Apr 2009) [4] 5 India $ 281 (Sep 2009) 2 [5] 6 South Korea $ 254 (Sep 2009)[6] 7 Hong Kong $ 233 (Aug 2009) 8 Brazil $ 233 (Oct 2009) 3[7] 9 Germany $ 184 (Sep 2009) 10 Singapore $ 182 (Sep 2009)

Note:

• Note 1: China updates its information quarterly.
• Note 2: Russia and India update their information weekly and monthly.
• Note 3: Brazil updates its information daily.

These few holders account for more than 60% of total world foreign currency reserves. The adequacy of the foreign exchange reserves is more often expressed not as an absolute level, but as a percentage of short-term foreign debt, money supply, or average monthly imports.

On July 15, 2009, the People's Bank of China announced China's foreign exchange reserve had reached $2.132 trillion by far the largest holders of foreign exchange reserves and the first time a country had surpassed the $2 trillion benchmark.

Excess reserves:

Foreign exchange reserves are important indicators of ability to repay foreign debt and for currency defense, and are used to determine credit ratings of nations, however, other government funds that are counted as liquid assets that can be applied to liabilities in times of crisis include stabilization funds, otherwise known as sovereign wealth funds. If those were included, Norway and Persian Gulf States would rank higher on these lists, and UAE's $1.3 trillion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority would be second after China. Singapore also has significant government funds including Temasek Holdings and GIC. India is also planning to create its own investment firm from its foreign exchange reserves.

Foreign exchange reserves:

Foreign exchange reserves (also called Forex reserves) in a strict sense are only the foreign currency deposits and bonds held by central banks and monetary authorities. However, the term in popular usage commonly includes foreign exchange and gold, SDRs and IMF reserve positions. This broader figure is more readily available, but it is more accurately termed official international reserves or international reserves. These are assets of the central bank held in different reserve currencies, mostly the US dollar, and to a lesser extent the euro, the UK pound, and the Japanese yen, and used to back its liabilities, e.g. the local currency issued, and the various bank reserves deposited with the central bank, by the government or financial institutions.