UK official holdings of international reserves

Part I: UK Government Foreign Currency Assets and Liabilities – January 2005

1. UK Government net reserves fell in dollar terms by $423 million in January 2005, bringing the end-January total to $18,685 million (£9,908 million¹) compared with $19,108 million (£9,899 million²) at end-December 2004.

	US $ million: market values
	End December 2004		End January 2004
Gross Reserves³	49,389		48,077
Liabilities	-30,281		-29,392
of which
foreign currency forwards and swaps (net⁴	-19,028		-18,524
repo transactions⁵	-5,080		-4,846
Net reserves⁶	19,108		18,685
Change in net reserves		-423
of which
valuation effects		-423
transactions against sterling		0
of which
UK public sector customers		-327
Other		328

2. As set out in the Chancellor’s letter of 6 May 1997 to the Governor of the Bank of England, if the Government so instructs, the Bank, acting as its agent, may intervene in the foreign exchange market by buying or selling Government foreign exchange reserves. If intervention is undertaken, the monthly press release will provide details of the amount and date of the intervention and an explanation of why it was undertaken. No intervention operations were undertaken in January.

Part II: Bank of England Foreign Currency Assets and Liabilities – January 2005

1. Bank of England net holdings of foreign currency and gold were unchanged in January 2005, the end-January total was $134 million (£71 million¹) compared with $134 million (£69 million²) at end-December 2004.

	US $ million: market values
	End December 2004		End January 2004
Assets³	26,303*		27,014
Liabilities	-26,169*		-26,880
of which
foreign currency forwards and swaps (net)⁴	-2,803		-3,403
repo transactions⁵	0		0
Net assets⁶	134		134
Change in net holdings		0
of which
valuation effects		-2
transactions against sterling		2
of which
UK public sector customers		-
Other		2

2. As set out in the Chancellor’s letter of 6 May 1997 to the Governor of the Bank of England, the Bank may also undertake foreign exchange operations to intervene in support of its monetary policy objective. If intervention is undertaken, the monthly press release will provide details of the amount and date of intervention and an explanation of why it was undertaken. The Bank undertook no such intervention operations in January.

3. Bank of England foreign currency assets and liabilities arise from banking deposits placed with the Bank by overseas central banks and other customers, the net effect of foreign exchange swaps conducted in the course of Bank money market operations, UK participation in the TARGET system, Bank euro Bill and Note programmes, and other capital items. Foreign exchange swaps may be undertaken as a supplement to usual Bank money market techniques to provide sterling liquidity to the market, and are purely technical in nature. The proceeds of Bank euro Bills are used to finance the provision by it of intra-day liquidity, on a secured basis, to participants in CHAPS euro, as part of the arrangements for TARGET.

1 When converted at the closing market rate (4pm) of £1 = $1.8859 on 31 January 2005.

2 When converted at the closing market rate (3pm) of £1 = $1.9303 on 31 December 2004.

3 In this presentation gross reserves in part 1 and assets in part 2 exclude market valuation of foreign currency forwards and swaps. These derivatives are shown (excl sterling leg) within liabilities.

4 Net present value of foreign currency forwards, interest rate and cross currency swaps (excl sterling leg).

5 Market value of liabilities to repay foreign currency received in repo transactions.

6 Figures may not sum due to rounding.

* In last month’s press notice the Bank of England gross reserve assets and liabilities figures for December were both understated by $120mn. This revision does not affect the net assets held by the Bank of England in December.

Notes to Editors

Background

1. UK international reserves figures are published in accordance with the methodology developed by the International Monetary Fund in the context of revisions to its Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), and the G10 central banks in their report “Enhancing transparency regarding authorities’ foreign currency liquidity position”.

2. The UK began to disclose additional information on its foreign currency assets and liabilities required under the International Monetary Fund Special Data Dissemination Standard (assets, liabilities and derivatives) from July 1999. Past data can be revised; the most up to date historical data for end-July 1999 onwards can be found on the Bank of England website at www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/reserves.

Methodology and definitions

3. The Bank of England website also provides information on the methodology now used and definitions of the main conventions employed.

A National Statistics publication

4. National Statistics is the official source for authoritative, accurate and relevant information on the economy and society. It brings together a vast range of statistical information overseen by the National Statistician. The National Statistics logo is your assurance of statistics produced to the highest professional standards. For more information about National Statistics visit www.statistics.gov.uk. The release of data in this press notice has followed the National Statistics Code of Practice and Protocol of Release Practices.

Internet version

5. If you have access to the Internet, you can find this news release and
other Treasury information at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk.

Next publication date

6. The figures for February 2005 are due for publication on Thursday 3 March 2005.

Enquiries

7. Media enquiries about this press release should be addressed to Will Straw in the Treasury Press Office on 020 7270 4420

8. Public enquiries (non-media) about this press release should be addressed to the Treasury’s Correspondence and Enquiry Unit on:

Telephone: 020 7270 4558
Fax: 020 7270 4861
Email: ceu.enquiries@hm-treasury.gov.uk

National Statistics Public Enquiry Service

9. For general enquiries about National Statistics, contact the National Statistics Public Enquiry Service on:

Telephone: 020 7533 5888
Minicom: 01633 812399
Email: info@statistics.gov.uk
Fax: 01633 652747
Letters: Room DG/18
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LONDON
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10. You can also find National Statistics on the Internet at www.statistics.gov.uk.