Official Reserve AssetsJanuary 2019

Release date: 7 February 2019

Table 1: Presents data on official reserve assets denominated in Australian dollars.

Table 2: Expresses these figures in US dollar terms.

Changes in the value of official reserve assets reflect purchases and sales (including swaps) of foreign exchange by the Reserve Bank, earnings on foreign securities and valuation effects arising from changes in the foreign currency value of the assets and exchange rates.

Table 1: Official Reserve Assets
(A$ million)
This table presents Australian dollar data on the level and composition of the Reserve Bank's Official Reserve Assets (ORA) holdings as at the end of the relevant month. Total ORA is disaggregated into foreign exchange, Special Drawing Rights, the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund and gold.
End of Foreign
exchange		 SDRs Reserve
position in
the IMF		 Gold Total
2017
Nov 70,374 5,292 1,079 3,953 80,697
Dec 75,308 5,161 1,005 3,876 85,350
2018
Jan 55,351 5,107 983 3,902 65,342
Feb 60,526 5,277 1,016 3,961 70,780
Mar 66,084 5,388 1,033 4,045 76,550
Apr 62,274 5,382 1,034 4,062 72,752
May 72,336 5,298 1,017 3,814 82,465
Jun 65,139 5,557 1,355 3,739 75,790
Jul 58,147 5,994 1,330 3,631 69,102
Aug 59,863 6,055 1,395 3,661 70,975
Sep 62,559 6,086 1,402 3,633 73,681
Oct 52,600 6,116 1,532 3,790 64,038
Nov 54,949 5,917 1,485 3,678 66,029
Dec 64,291 6,127 1,907 4,005 76,331
2019
Jan 49,491 5,978 1,826 4,024 61,319
Table 2: Official Reserve Assets
(US$ million)
End of Foreign
exchange		 SDRs Reserve
position in
the IMF		 Gold Total
2017
Nov 53,378 4,014 819 2,998 61,209
Dec 58,741 4,025 784 3,023 66,573
2018
Jan 44,685 4,123 794 3,150 52,751
Feb 47,162 4,112 791 3,086 55,152
Mar 50,654 4,130 792 3,100 58,676
Apr 47,142 4,074 782 3,075 55,073
May 54,715 4,007 770 2,885 62,376
Jun 48,144 4,107 1,001 2,764 56,016
Jul 43,209 4,454 989 2,698 51,350
Aug 43,461 4,396 1,013 2,658 51,528
Sep 45,180 4,395 1,013 2,624 53,212
Oct 37,267 4,333 1,086 2,685 45,371
Nov 40,201 4,329 1,086 2,691 48,307
Dec 45,377 4,325 1,346 2,827 53,874
2019
Jan 35,970 4,345 1,327 2,925 44,567

Notes

  1. The A$ values shown for SDRs and Reserve position in the IMF are at the IMF basket valuation for the SDR, which is published in terms of US dollars and crossed with the representative rate for the Australian dollar in terms of the US dollar. Gold is valued at the Australian dollar equivalent of the 3 pm price fix in the London gold market on the last business day of the month. The foreign currency value of other overseas assets is based, where applicable, on market quotations; accrued interest is normally taken into account. Conversion to Australian dollar equivalent normally is based on end month market rates of exchange. Figures in Table 2 have been converted to US dollar values using the end-month AUD/USD exchange rate.
  2. The sum of gold and foreign exchange may differ from figures reported in the weekly Statement of Liabilities and Assets and the Bank's Annual Report. From 1 July 1996, foreign currency securities sold and cash lent under repurchase agreements as well as gold lent under gold loan transactions are retained for accounting purposes as foreign currency investments in the Bank's balance sheet, along with cash received under repurchase agreements, in accordance with standard accounting treatment. For the purpose of reporting foreign exchange reserves in this table, however, securities sold and cash lent under repurchase agreements are excluded along with gold lent under gold loan transactions. Foreign currency securities received under repurchase agreements are excluded from both the RBA's balance sheet and from official reserve assets.
  3. The above data are based on information available at the time of publication and are subject to revision. The sum of components may not reconcile with the total amount for Official Reserve Assets due to rounding.
  4. Additional data on Australia's International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity will be available on the Reserve Bank's web site towards the end of the month.
  5. For information on changes to the RBA's methodology for compiling Australia's foreign reserve holdings from January 2015, please see ‘Reporting Australia's Foreign Reserve Holdings’.