international reserves

Monetary Reserve

The foreign currencies and precious metals that a central bank holds. A central bank's monetary reserve allows it to regulate its own currency; that is, a central bank with a large amount of reserves in euros is likely to closely follow or even peg its currency to the euro. On the other hand, central banks that keep monetary reserves in multiple currencies are more likely to follow either a basket peg or to have a floating currency. A monetary reserve is also called a currency reserve.

international reserves

or

international liquidity

monetary assets that are used to settle BALANCE OF PAYMENTS deficits between countries; specifically, GOLD, certain FOREIGN CURRENCIES (particularly the US dollar, the EURO, Swiss franc and Japanese yen), INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND ‘Drawing Rights’ and ‘Special Drawing Rights’.
International reservesFig. 99 International reserves. International reserves for 2003. Source: IMF.

international reserves

or

foreign exchange reserves

monetary assets that are generally acceptable as a means of settling BALANCE OF PAYMENTS deficits between countries. International reserves are made up of GOLD, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND drawing rights and SPECIAL DRAWING RIGHTS (SDRs). As Fig. 99 shows, gold and foreign exchange (particularly the US dollar) are the most important reserve assets. In 2003 international reserves totalled $268,247 million.