List of countries by foreign exchange reserves

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold in 2008

Foreign exchange reserves (also called Forex reserves) in a strict sense are only the foreign currency deposits held by central banks and monetary authorities. However, the term foreign exchange reserves in popular usage (such as this list) commonly includes foreign exchange and gold, SDRs and IMF reserve position as this total figure is more readily available, however it is accurately deemed as official reserves or international reserves. The list excludes currency swaps conducted by central banks.

These are assets of the central banks which are held in different reserve currencies such as the dollar, euro, yen and pound, and which are 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. Before the end of the gold standard, gold was the preferred reserve. Some nations are converting foreign exchange reserves into sovereign wealth funds, which can rival foreign exchange reserves in size.

This is a list of countries and territories by foreign exchange reserves in US dollar equivalence. Some nations have multiple monetary authorities, counted separately, such as China, which has three. Exchange rate fluctuations can have significant impact on these numbers.

[edit] List of states by foreign exchange reserves

Note: Although foreign exchange reserves are commonly measured in dollars, recent dollar devaluation against other reserve currencies does not necessarily reflect an improvement of finances. For consistency, forward currency swap contracts are not included in this list until they mature, figures that include them may be higher than those listed here.

Rank Country/Monetary Authority Foreign exchange reserves (millions of USD) Figures as of —  World (sum of all countries) $ 7,565,706 -- 1  People's Republic of China (does not include Hong Kong SAR Macau SAR) $ 1,808,828 June 2008 2  Japan $ 995,800 Sep 2008 3  Russia $ 546,100 Oct 2008 — Eurozone (EU member states which have adopted the euro, incl. ECB) $ 563,426 March 2008 4  India $ 283,900 Oct 2008 5  Republic of China (Taiwan) $ 281,130 Sep 2008 6  South Korea $ 239,200 Sep 2008 7  Brazil $ 206,510 Sep 2008 8  Singapore $ 172,600 Aug 2008 9 Hong Kong $ 153,200 Aug 2008 10  Algeria $ 149,806 September 2008 11  Germany $ 143,942 April 2008 12  France $ 119,588 May 2008 13  Malaysia $ 109,700 September 2008 14  Thailand $ 101,500 Sep 2008 15  Italy $ 102,173 May 2008 16  United Kingdom $ 99,956 March 2008 17  Mexico $ 84,000 Oct 2008 18  Iran $ 81,000 May 2008 19  Switzerland $ 80,669 March 2008 20  Libya $ 79,000 September 2007 21  Turkey $ 78,187 August 2008 22  Poland $ 76,966 March 2008 23  United States $ 75,850 March 2008 — European Central Bank (ECB, not owned by any single EU member) $ 65,543 February 2008 24  Nigeria $ 62,000 May 2008 25  Indonesia $ 60,560 July 2008 26  Norway $ 55,608 March 2008 27  Argentina $ 47,090 September 2008 28  Canada $ 43,057 March 2008 29  Romania $ 41,509 February 2008 30  Venezuela $ 38,353 August 2008 31  Czech Republic $ 38,162 June 2008 32  Ukraine $ 37,900 July 2008 (preliminary) 33  Denmark $ 37,263 February 2008 34  Philippines $ 36,740 Aug 2008 35  Peru $ 35,518 July 2008 36  Sweden $ 34,501 February 2008 37  South Africa $ 34,394 March 2008 38  Australia $ 30,682 August 2008 39  Egypt $ 32,915 February 2008 40  Israel $ 33,650 Aug 2008 41  Saudi Arabia $ 31,320 October 2007 42  United Arab Emirates $ 29,620 2007 est. 43  Netherlands $ 27,900 February 2008 44  Morocco $ 25,725 February 2008 45  Hungary $ 24,440 February 2008 46  Colombia $ 21,850 February 2008 47  Iraq $ 21,260 2007 est. 48  Kazakhstan $ 20,510 Aug 2008 49  Vietnam $ 20,700 June 2008 50  Spain $ 20,606 February 2008 51  Slovakia $ 19,689 March 2008 52  Kuwait $ 19,630 2007 est. 53  Austria $ 19,415 February 2008 54  Lebanon $ 19,400 2007 est. 55  New Zealand $ 18,008 February 2008 56  Bulgaria $ 21,600 August 2008 57  Belgium $ 17,416 February 2008 58  Chile $ 16,910 January 2008 59  Serbia $ 15,864 February 2008 60 Macau SAR $ 14,740 July 2008 61  Croatia $ 13,819 January 2008 62  Portugal $ 13,421 February 2008 63  Angola $ 12,290 2007 est. 64  Botswana $ 10,000 May 2008 65  Pakistan $ 8,130 Sep 2008 66  Azerbaijan $ 9,316 April 2008 67  Finland $ 8,824 February 2008 68  Jordan $ 8,005 January 2008 69  Yemen $ 7,871 2007 est. 70  Tunisia $ 7,714 February 2008 71  Lithuania $ 7,053 February 2008 72  Oman $ 7,004 2007 est. 73  Trinidad and Tobago $ 8,100 2008 est. 74  Cyprus $ 6,176 2007 est. 75  Syria $ 6,039 2007 est. 76  Qatar $ 6,368 2007 est. 77  Latvia $ 5,903 January 2008 78  Bangladesh $ 5,900 August 2008 79  Bosnia and Herzegovina $ 5,151 January 2008 80  Guatemala $ 4,559 2007 est. 81  Bolivia $ 4,917 2007 est. 82  Uruguay $ 4,429 January 2008 83  Uzbekistan $ 5,600 2007 est. 84  Belarus $ 4,498 April 2008 85  Cuba $ 4,247 2007 est. 86  Equatorial Guinea $ 3,928 2007 est. 87  Costa Rica $ 3,915 2007 est. 88  Turkmenistan $ 3,644 2007 est. 89  Ecuador $ 3,618 2007 est. 90  Estonia $ 3,581 February 2008 91  Malta $ 3,522 2007 est. 92  Burma $ 3,500 Aug 2008 93  Bahrain $ 3,474 2007 est. 94  Greece $ 3,387 January 2008 95  Kenya $ 3,144 Aug 2008 96  Sri Lanka $ 3,252 2007 est. 97  Honduras $ 2,892 2007 est. 98  Ghana $ 2,837 2007 est. 99  Iceland $ 2,792 February 2008 100  Dominican Republic $ 2,525 2007 est. 101  Côte d'Ivoire $ 2,500 2007 est. 102  Paraguay $ 2,463 2007 est. 103  Tanzania $ 2,441 2007 est. 104  Cameroon $ 2,341 2007 est. 105  Republic of Macedonia $ 2,243 November 2007 106  Congo $ 2,242 2007 est. 107  El Salvador $ 2,224 January 2008 108  Papua New Guinea $ 2,193 December 2007 109  Uganda $ 2,100 2007 est. 110  Mauritius $ 1,772 2007 est. 111  Armenia $ 1,628 January 2008 112  Albania $ 1,615 December 2007 113  Cambodia $ 1,600 December 2007 114  Jamaica $ 1,490 December 2007 115  Mozambique $ 1,470 November 2007 116  Gabon $ 1,459 2007 est. 117  Moldova $ 1,730 Aug 2008 118  Senegal $ 1,350 2007 est. 119  Georgia $ 1,300 2008 est. 120  Panama $ 1,260 2007 est. 121  Sudan $ 1,245 2007 est. 122  Zimbabwe $ 1,222 March 2008 123  Kyrgyzstan $ 1,155 January 2008 124  Zambia $ 1,100 2007 est. 125  Slovenia $ 1,076 January 2008 126  Nicaragua $ 1,075 2007 est. 127  Mongolia $ 1000 July 2007 128  Chad $ 997 2007 est. 129 Ireland $ 930 January 2008 130  Burkina Faso $ 897 2007 est. 131  Lesotho $ 889 2007 est. 132  Ethiopia $ 840 2007 est. 133  Benin $ 825 2007 est. 134  Namibia $ 750 2007 est. 135  Madagascar $ 745 2007 est. 136  Barbados $ 620 2007 est 137  Laos $ 514 2007 est. 138  Rwanda $ 511 2007 est. 139  Swaziland $ 395 2007 est. 140  Togo $ 363 2007 est. 141  Cape Verde $ 344 2007 est. 142  Tajikistan $ 301 2007 est. 143  Luxembourg $ 294 January 2008 144  Guyana $ 292 2007 est. 145  Haiti $ 221 2007 est. 146  Vanuatu $ 149 December 2007 147  Malawi $ 140 2007 est. 148  Gambia $ 120 2007 est. 149  Guinea $ 119 2007 est. 150  Burundi $ 118 2007 est. 151  Seychelles $ 118 2007 est. 152  Belize $ 150 Oct 2008 153  Samoa $ 70 2004 est. 154  Tonga $ 55 February 2008 155  São Tomé and Príncipe $ 36 December 2007 156  Eritrea $ 22 2007 est.

[edit] See also

• Official gold reserves

[edit] External links

• The World Factbook, CIA
• IMF's data on current foreign exchange reserves of reporting countries
• SDDS subscribers with links to their websites containing data on international reserves
• Central bank websites from Bank for International Settlements