Foreign exchange

Information Note on the Official Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves of the Reserve Bank of South Africa as of December 31, 2021

January 7, 2022
Kathryn M. McFadden

PO Box 427 Pretoria 0001 South Africa 370 Helen Joseph Street Pretoria 0002 +27 12 313 3911/0861 12 7272 www.resbank.co.za

Financial Markets Department

Ref. n °: 16/6/2/7/1

Information Note on the Official Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves of the Reserve Bank of South Africa as of December 31, 2021

This notice provides details of the US dollar equivalent of the level of official gold and foreign exchange reserves of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and foreign currency deposits received. of clients published today in the statement of assets of the SARB and Liabilities at December 31, 2021.

December 31, 2021

November 30, 2021

Change(1)

(millions of US dollars)

(millions of US dollars)

(millions of US dollars)

Gold reserves

7,327

7 215

112

holdings in SDRs

6,603

6,608

(5)

Foreign exchange reserves(2)

43 659

43,795

(136)

Gross reserves

57,589

57,618

(29)

Foreign currency deposits received(3)

(5,684)

(6,111)

427

Front position(4)

3,404

3 653

(249)

International liquidity position

55,309

55 160

149

Exchange rate

% cash

EUR / USD

1.1332

1.1347

(0.13)

GBP / USD

1.3509

1.3336

1.30

US $ / ZAR

15.8959

16.0307

(0.84)

SDR / USD

1.3996

1,4008

(0.01)

US $ / CNY

6.3565

6.3724

(0.25)

Gold price

% cash

Market (US $)

1,818.25

1790.36

1.56

Statutory (ZAR)

28 902.72

28,700.72

0.70

  1. Figures may not add due to rounding.
  2. Foreign exchange reserves include foreign currency deposits received (FDR).
  3. FDR balances include foreign loans and foreign currency purchases by the National Treasury (NT), both through outright purchases and currency swaps.
  4. The forward position mainly reflects on-going forward foreign exchange transactions. These include currency swaps to sterilize currency purchases and liquidity management swaps.
  5. Sterilization currency swaps refer to swaps performed to sterilize purchases of foreign currency from foreign direct investment and other inflows of foreign currency, such as international financial institutions (IFIs).
  6. Liquidity management swaps are currency swaps entered into in the ordinary course of business to manage money market liquidity.

The changes in gross reserves and in the international liquidity position are mainly due to the increase in the price of gold in US dollars, the depreciation of the US dollar against other currencies and the expired foreign exchange swaps carried out at for sterilization purposes. These factors were largely offset by foreign currency payments made on behalf of the government.

Warning

South African Reserve Bank published this content on January 07, 2022 and is solely responsible for the information it contains. Distributed by Public, unedited and unmodified, on 07 January 2022 06:17:04 AM UTC.