On Friday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued data stating the renminbi-denominated foreign exchange reserves. For the first time, the data on the Chinese currency was released.
Based on the data on the currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves (COFER), the renminbi foreign exchange reserves went up to $84.51 billion, equivalent to 1.07 percent of the world’s total forex reserves, by the end of December 2016. The IMF issues COFER data on a quarterly basis.
The data for the renminbi-dominated foreign exchange reserves were released by the IMF for the first time. The U.S. dollar, pound sterling, Japanese yen, Swiss francs, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and euro are among the currencies previously identified in COFER.
Last March, the IMF has made an announcement that it would set apart the renminbi in its COFER quarterly survey starting Oct. 1, 2016. The IMF also said that at the end of March 2017, it would release the first data with the discrete identification of renminbi-denominated foreign exchange reserves.
The organization said in the previous month that the action distinguished the progress in the internationalization of the renminbi. The development was credited to the reforms made by the Chinese government to boost a more market-based economy.
The U.S. dollar-dominated foreign exchange reserves arrived at $5,052.94 billion by the end of last year. The amount accounted for the 63.96 percent of the world’s total foreign exchange reserves.
With 19.74 percent share, the euro-dominated forex reserves placed second in the COFER data.
The COFER surveys currency composition of holdings of foreign exchange reserves from 146 reporters. Included in the list are IMF member countries, non-member countries or economies and other foreign exchanges reserve holding entities.
The COFER data is published by the IMF quarterly and IMF members join in the COFER survey of their own accord. Given its sensitive nature, the OFER data for individual countries are not disclosed.
The renminbi-denominated foreign exchange reserves are expected to continue growing with China’s economic reforms.