reserves

[Doug Henwood]

Angela asked if the U.S. dollar's role as a reserve currency has been
diminishing. The oldest IMF annual report, which has the reserve tables, I
have is 1989. There was obviously some change in definitions and/or
coverage between the two reports, given the two figures for 1988, but I
don't know what it was.

In general, the dollar is well down from the early 1980s, but up from its
early 1990s lows. These percentages are affected by changes in exchange
rates; no doubt the late 1980s decline was partly the result of the
post-Plaza decline in the US$'s value. But as the $ has risen since 1995,
there hasn't been any corresponding increase in reserve market share.

US$, % of total FX reserves
(1998 and 1989 IMF annual reports)

        1998 AR  1989 AR
1980              68.6%
1981              71.5%
1982              70.5%
1983              71.2%
1984              69.4%
1985              64.2%
1986              66.0%
1987              66.8%
1988     54.6%    63.3%
1989     51.4%
1990     49.4%
1991     50.0%
1992     54.2%
1993     55.6%
1994     55.7%
1995     56.4%
1996     59.6%
1997     57.1%

Doug