60/99
7 April 1999
UK OFFICIAL HOLDINGS OF FOREIGN CURRENCY AND GOLD:
Part I: UK Government Reserves - March 1999
1. The overall level of the UK Government's reserves, including the forward book, fell by $7 million in March, bringing the end-March total to $35,365 million (£21,914 million) compared with $35,372 million (£22,090 million) at the end of February.
2. The underlying change in the reserves, including the forward book, was a decrease of $3 million.
3. The underlying change excludes capital transactions that are included in the overall change. In March:
-
there were repayments of $6 million of Exchange Cover Scheme (ECS) borrowing; and
-
receipts from Government Euro Treasury Bills issued exceeded capital repayments on those maturing by $2 million.
| $ million | |||
| Spot |
Forward |
Total | |
| end- March reserves | 33,834 | 1,531 | 35,365 |
| less end- February reserves | 33,832 | 1,540 | 35,372 |
| OVERALL CHANGE | 2 | -9 | -7 |
| less adjustments | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| UNDERLYING CHANGE | 6 | -9 | -3 |
4. No intervention operations were undertaken in March.
5. After the annual revaluation, the reserves stood at $35,262 million (£21,850 million)
Part II: Bank of England Holdings of Foreign Currency and Gold - March
1. The overall level of the Bank of England's holdings of foreign currency and gold, including the forward book, fell by $529 million in March, bringing the end-March total to $3,759 million (£2,329 million) compared with $4,288 million (£2,678 million) at the end of February.
2. There was no underlying change in the level of the Bank of England's holdings including the forward book.
| $ million | |||
| Spot | Forward | Total | |
| end-March holdings | 9,673 | -5,914 | 3,759 |
| less end-February holdings | 12,980 | -8,692 | 4,288 |
| OVERALL CHANGE | -3,307 | 2,778 | -529 |
| less adjustments | 3,307 | -2,778 | 529 |
| UNDERLYING CHANGE | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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3. The adjustments to the overall change figure include the change in valuation over the month, changes in holdings arising from changes in foreign currency and gold deposits placed with the Bank by overseas central banks and other customers, changes due to the net effect of foreign exchange swaps conducted in the course of the Bank's money market operations, changes arising from the UK participation in the TARGET system, and other capital items. The foreign exchange swaps are undertaken as a supplement to the Bank's usual money market techniques to provide sterling liquidity to the market, and are purely technical in nature.
4. The Bank's participation in the TARGET system has given rise to euro balances with other central banks operating the system. These are in effect off-set by similar balances that the other central banks hold at the Bank. As a result they are shown net in the table above, where they account for $133 million. The gross amount is $64,455 million.
5. No intervention operations were undertaken in March.
Notes to Editors
1. The Quarterly Report on UK Official Holdings of Foreign Currency and Gold, to be published on 2 June 1999 and covering the quarter ending 31 March 1999, will contain further information about the foreign-currency and gold holdings of the Government and the Bank of England. This will include, for each, the currency composition of foreign-currency assets, the size and currency composition of foreign-currency liabilities and information on intervention operations, if undertaken.
2. The Government and Bank of England figures have been produced on the basis of different accounting methodologies. Therefore, no overall total for the two is shown. Details of the accounting methodologies were included in the Quarterly Report published on 3 March 1998 (covering October- December 1997) and will be included in future Quarterly Reports.
3. The underlying change in the Government's reserves is the result of a variety of transactions, both debits and credits, including, for example, transactions for Government departments, transactions with other central banks and interest receipts and payments. For these reasons, the underlying change should not be taken as an indication of market intervention.
4. Repayments under the Exchange Cover Scheme in March were as follows:
| Organisation | $ million |
| South Yorkshire County Council | 0.719 |
| Civil Aviation Authority | 0.585 |
| Lancashire County Council | 0.499 |
| West Glamorgan County Council | 0.496 |
| Highland Regional Council | 0.486 |
| Other Smaller Repayments | 2.688 |
| Total | 5.473 |
5. The Government's reserves are conventionally revalued once a year at the end of March as follows:
- gold is valued at 75 per cent of the average of the London fixing price for the three months up to the end of March or at 75 per cent of its final fixing price on the last working day in March, whichever calculation gives the lower value; and
- nondollar foreign currencies and Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) are converted to dollar equivalents using the average of the relevant dollar exchange rates in the three months up to the end of March or using the actual exchange rates on the last working day in March, whichever calculation gives the lower dollar value.
6. The same gold price and exchange rates are then used to value the Government's reserves in successive monthly reserves announcements until the next revaluation. Securities are revalued at historic cost but translated into dollars as set out above.
7. The figures for April 1999 will be published on Wednesday 5 May.
8. The figures contained in this press release can also be obtained from the Reuters Monitor (page TREA), Bridge News (page 170), Telerate (p22494) and Topic (p6800).