U.S. International Reserve Position (2024)

FAQs

How much does the U.S. have in foreign reserves? ›

Foreign Exchange Reserves in the United States decreased to 35990 USD Million in March from 36077 USD Million in February of 2024.

Net international reserves (NIR) are calculated as reserve assets (RA) minus predetermined net short-term foreign currency drains (FCD).

The currency that's widely accepted as the medium of exchange in all transactions is called an international reserve currency. All international prices, international contracts, and financial transactions are quoted in terms of reserve currency units.

And in times of international stress, investors flock to U.S. Treasuries as a way to stabilize the value of their assets. "I do not expect to see the U.S. dollar lose its status as the world's reserve currency anytime soon, nor even see a significant decline in its primacy in trade and finance," Waller said.

General Balance Sheet Trends

Overall, as shown in table 1, the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet decreased roughly $90 billion from about $8.8 trillion on September 28, 2022, to about $8.7 trillion as of March 29, 2023.

Key Takeaways

Most foreign exchange reserves are held in U.S. dollars, with China being the largest foreign currency reserve holder in the world. The top foreign reserve holders tend to be countries in Asia and South Asia.

Reserves - Country rankings

The average for 2022 based on 146 countries was 95.37 billion U.S. dollars. The highest value was in China: 3306.84 billion U.S. dollars and the lowest value was in Sao Tome and Principe: 0.05 billion U.S. dollars.

The United States holds the world's largest stockpile of gold reserves by a considerable margin of over 8,100 tons. The U.S. government has almost as many reserves as Germany, Italy, and France combined. They are the next three largest gold-holding countries.

Similar to international reserves, foreign exchange reserves are also reserve assets, which a central bank holds in foreign currencies. These may include foreign banknotes, bank deposits, bonds, treasury bills, and other government securities.

Do banks keep foreign currency on hand? ›

Call your bank or other banks nearby that offer foreign currency exchange before going in. Not all banks offer this service, and banks won't always have the currency you need on hand. You might need to order it ahead of time.

Many countries cannot borrow money or pay for foreign goods in their own currencies—since much of international trade is still done in dollars—and therefore need to hold reserves to ensure a steady supply of imports during a crisis and assure creditors that debt payments denominated in foreign currency can be made.

In 1971, President Nixon officially ended the gold standard and made the United States dollar a fiat currency. Fiat means “let it be done” in Latin. Therefore, a “fiat currency” derives its value from government decree rather than any physical commodity.

The highest-valued currency in the world is the Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD). Since it was first introduced in 1960, the Kuwaiti dinar has consistently ranked as the world's most valuable currency. Kuwait's economic stability, driven by its oil reserves and tax-free system, contributes to the high demand for its currency.

Despite uncertain macro conditions, the dollar has continued to demonstrate strength — largely thanks to sticky inflation, a resilient U.S. economy and year-to-date highs in yields. Indeed, in a display of U.S. exceptionalism, the greenback has gained against just about every other major currency in 2024.

U.S. official reserve assets 2000-2022

In 2022, the official reserve assets of the United States totaled to about 706.91 billion U.S. dollars. This is an increase from the year 2000, when the Federal Reserve's assets came to 128.4 billion U.S. dollars.

As of April 2024, China's foreign exchange reserves totaled US$3.200 trillion, which is the highest foreign exchange reserves of any country. The management of foreign exchange reserves is governed by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and the People's Bank of China.

The Department of Finance Canada announced today that Canada's official international reserves increased by an amount equivalent to US$1,699 million in March to US$117,950 million. This was driven by positive reserves management funding operations (US$1,538 million) ¹ and a net gain on investments (US$161 million) ².

Japan's reserve assets totaled $ 1,278,977 million as of the end of April 2024, down $ 11,629 million from the end of March. Details on the level and composition of Japan's international reserves/ foreign currency liquidity are provided below.