Forex - Top 10 central banks with biggest reserves

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | June 02 2010 4:58 AM

HONG KONG, JUNE 2 (Reuters) - Central bank reserve holdings have exploded globally in the last decade and nowhere more so than in Asia, where the biggest piles of cash are. Since 2000, global foreign exchange reserves have grown by a staggering $6.15 trillion and stood at $8.09 trillion at the end of 2009, or 14 percent of the world's gross domestic product, International Monetary Fund data showed.

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Some of the world's richest central banks will not stop investing in the plummeting euro, supporting its reserve status, despite the sovereign debt crisis plaguing Europe, government sources said told Reuters.

China and Japan together account for about 43 percent of global reserves. Listed below are the 10 biggest central banks by reserves.

1. CHINA Official reserves: $2,447.1 bln Proportion of global reserves: 30.3 pct* U.S. Treasury holdings: $895.2 bln** Reserves to external debt: 559.8 pct

2. JAPAN Official reserves: $1,046.8 bln Proportion of global reserves: 13.9 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: $784.9 bln Reserves to external debt: 49.7 pct

3. RUSSIA Official reserves: $458.2 bln Proportion of global reserves: 5.7 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: $120.1 bln Reserves to external debt: 88.4 pct

4. SAUDI ARABIA Official reserves: $410.1 bln Proportion of global reserves: 5.1 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: N/A Reserves to external debt: N/A

5. TAIWAN Official reserves: $357.6 bln Proportion of global reserves: 4.4 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: $124.8 bln Reserves to external debt: 424.6 pct

6. INDIA Official reserves: $273.4 bln Proportion of global reserves: 3.4 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: $32.0 bln Reserves to external debt: 112.8 pct

7. SOUTH KOREA Official reserves: $270.2 bln Proportion of global reserves: 3.3 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: $40.0 bln Reserves to external debt: 66.4 pct

8. HONG KONG Official reserves: $259.2 bln Proportion of global reserves: 3.2 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: $150.9 bln Reserves to external debt: 385.1 pct

9. BRAZIL Official reserves: $249.5 bln Proportion of global reserves: 3.1 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: $164.4 bln Reserves to external debt: 115.3 pct

10. SINGAPORE Official reserves: $203.4 bln Proportion of global reserves: 2.5 pct U.S. Treasury holdings: $45.5 bln Reserves to external debt: N/A

Sources: International Monetary Fund, U.S. Treasury, National central banks, Reuters News

* The IMF's COFER data shows total reserves of $8.087 trillion as of 2009.

** Figures from the Treasury International Capital System data. Note: Germany has $189 billion in official reserves, but unlike the other central banks listed above, the majority is held in gold.

(Compiled by Kevin Plumberg; Editing by Kim Coghill)