Media Release Changes to Publication Arrangements for Official Reserve Assets

Beginning with this month, the Bank will publish greater detail on holdings of Official Reserve Assets, in keeping with recommendations developed by the International Monetary Fund in consultation with central banks. The information will include, among other things, data on the currency composition and maturity profile of reserves. Data for reserve holdings at the end of each month will be available on the Reserve Bank's website (www.rba.gov.au) at the end of the following month. A copy of the template which will be used is attached.

In addition, the Bank will continue to publish, within five days of the end of the month, data on total holdings of Official Reserve Assets. These will continue to be made available by media release as well as on the website.

As part of the new reporting arrangements, there have been some definitional changes to Official Reserve Assets. The main one is that some foreign currency assets, such as foreign currency facilities with other central banks, will no longer be included in the definition of Official Reserve Assets. Under the new definition, holdings of Official Reserve Assets at the end of March were $1.5 billion lower than under the previous definition, mainly reflecting the exclusion of swaps with the Bank of Thailand and the Bank of Papua New Guinea.