Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Is there a breakdown of "other currencies" classification in the Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER) dataset?

"Other currencies" refer to all currencies other than those that are separately identified in COFER data reporting. There is no breakdown of "other currencies" in COFER reporting, so individual currencies included in "other currencies" are indistinguishable.

Note: Starting in 2016Q4, COFER separately identified the Chinese renminbi, which was previously included indistinguishably in “other currencies”. Starting in 2012Q4, COFER separately identified two currencies— the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar— which were previously included indistinguishably in “other currencies”.

COFER data for individual countries are kept strictly confidential given the sensitive nature of the data. Access to individual country data is limited to only four IMF staff on a need-to-know basis. COFER data are only published in the format of statistical aggregates.

COFER data are reported in terms of U.S. dollars. The IMF receives COFER data already converted into U.S. dollars. Reporters are recommended to use end-of-period market exchange rates to convert their reserves denominated in non-U.S. dollar currencies into U.S. dollars.

Monetary gold is not included in the foreign exchange reserves reported in COFER; however, gold is part of reserve assets, which have a broader coverage than COFER.

• SDR holdings: Countries’ holdings of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) are not included in the foreign exchange reserves reported in COFER.

• SDR-denominated claims: certain claims denominated in SDR—such as highly liquid assets under IMF arrangements that meet the criteria to qualify as reserve assets—are included in COFER. They are classified under “other claims”, which is part of the “other reserve assets” category. Reporters are recommended to report SDR-denominated claims as “other currencies”.

Annual data are available from 1995 to 1998; quarterly data are available starting from the first quarter of 1999.

Starting in 2025Q3, with revisions back to 2000Q1, the IMF eliminated the “unallocated” portion of the COFER dataset to provide a complete currency composition—expressed in both dollars and shares—that accounts for 100 percent of the world’s foreign exchange reserves. More information is available in the November 2025 technical note: “Improving the Analytical Usefulness of the IMF’s COFER Data”.

Until 2025Q3, the COFER dataset included “allocated” and “unallocated” foreign exchange reserves. “Allocated” foreign exchange reserves were the category in which reporting countries identify and report the currency of denomination of their foreign exchange reserves. “Unallocated” foreign exchange reserves were a residual category consisting of the difference between total foreign exchange reserves sourced from the International Liquidity database (formerly International Financial Statistics) and the total allocated reserves in COFER. “Unallocated” foreign exchange reserves had two components: (i) the total foreign exchange reserves of nonreporting countries; and (ii) the discrepancy (if any) between the International Liquidity database total foreign exchange reserves of COFER-reporting countries and the total allocated foreign exchange reserves in COFER.