http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2918314820070629
Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:03pm EDT
June 29 (Reuters) - Global foreign exchange reserves grew at a slightly slower pace in the first quarter than late last year, but the insatiable appetite [appetite?! They're drowning in our money and this is the least bad thing they can do with it until they fire up their soverign wealth funds and start buying up the whole country.] of central banks showed no signs of letting up. Reserve accumulation is one manifestation of the global imbalances in international accounts that continually worry world economic policy-makers. On one side sit the savers of the world, with their massive stockpiles of reserves and growing trade surpluses. On the other are consumer-driven economies with widening trade gaps, exemplified by the U.S. current account deficit totaling more than 6 percent of gross domestic product. Following are data on official dollar holdings worldwide, ranking reserve totals by country and size and foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries.
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TOP 5 CENTRAL BANK RESERVE HOLDINGS (in billions):
March |
End-06 |
End-05 |
End-04 |
End-03 |
End-00 |
|
China |
$1,202 |
$1,066 |
$819 |
$610 |
$403 |
$166 |
Japan |
$909 |
$895 |
$846 |
$844 |
$674 |
$362 |
Russia |
$339 |
$304 |
$182 |
$124 |
$ 77 |
$ 28 |
Taiwan |
$267 |
$266 |
$253 |
$242 |
$207 |
$107 |
S.Korea |
$244 |
$239 |
$210 |
$196 |
$155 |
$ 96 |
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WORLDWIDE
RESERVE TOTALS
-- Global foreign exchange reserves rose $264
billion, or 5.2 percent, to $5.3 trillion in the first quarter of
2007, International Monetary Fund data showed. The rate of increase
slowed slightly from 6 percent in the last quarter of 2006.
--
Total reserves were up by $943.5 billion, or 22 percent, from the
first quarter of 2006.
-- Developing countries in the first
quarter of 2007 held 73 percent of these total reserves at $3.881
trillion. Their share of world forex reserve holdings has risen from
59 percent at the end of 2000.
BREAKDOWN OF ALLOCATED RESERVES (in billions):
2007 Q1 2006 Q4 2006 Q3 2006 Q2
-- with FX detail* 3489 3331 3158 3057
US Dollars 2239 2151 2073 1998
euros 911 862 795 778
Japanese yen 109 108 99 99
British pound 157 147 134 129
Swiss franc 6 6 5 5
Others [Gold?!] 67 58 50 48
*Reserves whose currency composition is known.
As a percent of reserves with known composition:
2007 Q1 2006 Q4 2006 Q3 2006 Q2
US Dollars 64.2 64.6 65.8 65.5
euros 26.1 25.9 25.1 25.4
sterling 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.2
yen 3.1 3.3 3.1 3.2
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NATIONAL ACCOUNTS OF MAJOR ECONOMIES:
TOP 5 CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT COUNTRIES AS PERCENTAGE OF GDP:
End-2005 (in blns) % of GDP in 2005
Iceland -2.62 -16.3
New Zealand -9.77 -9.0
Hungary* -7.46 -6.7
USA -791.50 -6.4
Turkey -22.71 -6.3
TOP 5 CURRENT ACCOUNT SURPLUS COUNTRIES AS PERCENTAGE OF GDP:
End-2005 (in blns) % of GDP in 2005
Saudi Arabia* 90.78 29.3
Qatar 10.71 25.2
Singapore 28.61 24.5
Switzerland 61.42 16.8
UAE* 20.53 15.8
*Indicates IMF estimates.
-- U.S. current account deficit for 2006 was a record $811 billion,
or 6.1 percent of gross domestic product.
-- The U.S. net
international investment position, the country's total stock of IOUs
to foreign investors and governments, in 2006 was a deficit of $2.54
trillion, 13 percent wider than the $2.24 trillion shortfall in 2005.
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TOP
10 FOREIGN HOLDERS OF U.S. TREASURIES (PRIVATE AND
PUBLIC) (in billions):
Apr |
Mar |
Dec |
Apr |
|
2006 |
2006 |
|||
1. Japan |
$615 |
$639 |
$623 |
$639 |
2. Mainland China |
$414 |
$420 |
$397 |
$321 |
3. UK |
$134 |
$147 |
$ 92 |
$166 |
4. Oil Exporters |
$112 |
$113 |
$110 |
$100 |
5. Brazil |
$ 80 |
$ 70 |
$ 52 |
$ 31 |
6. Caribbean |
$ 76[incl PPT?] |
$ 81 |
$ 72 |
$ 57 |
7. Luxembourg |
$ 62 |
$ 62 |
$ 60 |
$ 37 |
8. Taiwan |
$ 59 |
$ 58 |
$ 59 |
$ 69 |
9. Hong Kong |
$ 56 |
$ 58 |
$ 54 |
$ 49 |
10.South Korea |
$ 54 |
$ 58 |
$ 67 |
$ 71 |
SIZE OF U.S. TREASURY MARKET AND FOREIGN HOLDINGS:
-- Total
outstanding marketable Treasury securities in May 2007 were $4.359
trillion, up from $4.251 trillion a year ago.
-- Foreign holdings
of Treasury securities, private and public, were $2.166 trillion in
April 2007, up 5 percent from a year ago.
-- Marketable
debt securities held in custody by the Federal Reserve for foreign
official and international accounts (mostly foreign central
banks) [*]
were $1.976 trillion in June 2007, compared with $1.639
trillion a year ago. Treasury debt accounted for $1.235 trillion of
the total. Federal agency debt made up the bulk of the rest.
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(Sources: International Monetary Fund, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, U.S. Treasury Department, national central banks, Reuters news)