Metadata: Creditor/Market​

D. Memorandum items: selected foreign assets (Lines 24-28)​

Line 24_International reserves (excluding gold) 

The data on international reserve assets refer to entries published in the world tables of the IMF's International Financial Statistics (IFS).

International reserve assets as defined in BPM6, consist of those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for meeting balance of payments financing needs, for intervention in exchange markets to affect the currency exchange rate, and for other related purposes (such as maintaining confidence in the currency and the economy, and serving as a basis for foreign borrowing). Monetary authorities encompass the central bank (which subsumes other institutional units included in the central bank subsector, such as the currency board) and certain operations usually attributed to the central bank but sometimes carried out by other government institutions or commercial banks, such as government-owned commercial banks. Such operations include the issuance of currency; maintenance and management of reserve assets, including those resulting from transactions with the IMF; and operation of exchange stabilization funds. 

Line 24 corresponds to the series described in the IFS as: Total Reserves minus Gold (IFS line.1l.d). It includes the US dollar value of monetary authorities' holdings of SDRs, reserve position in the Fund, and foreign exchange. In the IFS the following three component lines are shown:  

• Holdings of SDRs (IFS line.1b.d) are international reserve assets created by the IMF to supplement existing reserves. They are valued on the basis of a basket of currencies of four key international currencies and can be used in a wide variety of transactions and operations among official holders. SDRs are allocated to Fund members that are participants in the Fund's Operations Division for SDRs and Administered Accounts in proportion to their quotas. Eight SDR allocations totaling SDR 204.1  billion have been made by the Fund (in January 1970, January 1971, January 1972, January 1979, January 1980, January 1981, August 2009, and September 2009).
•  
• Reserve Position in the Fund (IFS line.1c.d) comprises the reserve tranche and creditor positions under the various borrowing arrangements. A reserve tranche position in the Fund arises from the payment of part of a member's subscription in reserve assets, and the Fund's net use of the member's currency. A member's reserve position in the Fund is a reserve asset.
•  
• Foreign Exchange (IFS line.1d.d) includes monetary authorities' claims in freely usable currencies on nonresidents in the form of bank deposits, treasury bills, short-term and long-term government securities, cash, and other claims usable in the event of balance of payments need.

Data on reserve position in the Fund and SDRs are sourced from IMF records. Member countries report data on foreign exchange in millions of US dollars, which are valued at end-of-month market rates or, in the absence of market rate quotations, at other prevailing official rates. The published data on foreign exchange sometimes include claims that do not meet the definition of reserve assets set out in the BPM6.

Line 25__o/w SDR holdings

See line 24.

Line 26_Portfolio investment assets

The data on reported portfolio investment assets (equity and debt securities) are sourced from the IMF's Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS) database. 

The purpose of the CPIS is to collect information on the stock of cross-border holdings of equities and long- and short-term debt securities valued at market prices prevailing at the time of the CPIS, and broken down by the economy of residence of the issuer. The CPIS collects data on holdings of securities at end-December of the reference year. 

Considerable effort has been made to set standards for the compilation of CPIS data by documenting best practices in compilation (see CPIS Guide, Second Edition), and to draw on the synergies released by a coordinated effort to conduct such surveys for a common reference date. For the core items, the result is a global database of holdings of reported cross-border holdings of securities and derived portfolio investment liabilities with the capacity for showing bilateral economy data from the creditor or debtor perspective. The coverage of the CPIS data for an individual economy typically corresponds to the coverage of portfolio investment assets in its international investment position (IIP) statement, as both follow the same concepts and definitions. Some differences may result from differing release dates for the IIP and CPIS, but ultimately the CPIS data are likely to be incorporated into the IIP statement. Some economies conduct a CPIS but do not compile an IIP statement. Other economies conduct a CPIS that may not cover all resident sectors and derive some IIP data by cumulating reported flows data; in these cases significant differences remain because a geographic breakdown of holdings by residence of the issuer cannot be made with accuracy. Data reported in the CPIS that are not broken down by the economy of residence of the issuer reflect deficiencies in the CPIS source data or the suppression of entries to preserve the confidentiality of source information supplied by individual units. 

Where appropriate, reported data for individual economies are footnoted to indicate particular sectors that are not covered in the CPIS data for those economies or to indicate the coverage of offshore financial sectors. Portfolio investment by households that do not use the services of resident custodians is likely to be poorly measured in most economies. 

For further information on the CPIS, see Click here
Individual economy data and metadata are available at Click here

Line 27_Cross-border deposits with BIS rep. banks 

The data are derived from the BIS locational banking statistics. Deposits with BIS reporting banks are shown in BIS publications as banks' liabilities to their creditors.

Line 28__o/w deposits from nonbanks [Previously known as Cross-border deposits with BIS banks, nonbanks]
The data are derived from the BIS locational banking statistics. Deposits with BIS reporting banks are shown in BIS publications as banks' liabilities to their creditors.

Updated Monday, March 3, 2016