Canada’s official international reserves experienced a decrease of $1.98 billion in the previous month, according to the federal finance department. As of January 31, the country’s reserves of foreign currencies and other monetary assets amounted to $116.3 billion, reflecting a decline from $118.28 billion in the previous month.
No Intervention in Foreign-Currency Market
During January, the Canadian government did not intervene in the foreign-currency market. Additionally, there were no gold holdings at the end of the month.
Canada Bills Outstanding Decrease
The finance department reported that the amount of outstanding Canada bills fell by $1.55 billion, resulting in a total of $1.90 billion as of the end of January. Canada bills are short-term securities sold on the U.S. money market.
Composition of Foreign-Currency Reserves
As of January 31, foreign-currency reserves consisted of various components:
- Securities: $80.64 billion
- Deposits: $7.67 billion
- Special drawing rights: $23.18 billion
- Reserve position in the International Monetary Fund: $4.09 billion
Net Decrease in Reserves in January
The $1.98 billion net decrease in reserves during January can be attributed to the following factors:
- Reserves management operations: -$1.14 billion
- Return on investments: +$63 million
- Foreign-currency debt charges: -$148 million
- Revaluation effects: -$759 million
- No net government operations
- No official intervention reported
Currency Composition of Deposits and Securities
At the end of January, deposits and securities were composed as follows:
- United States dollars: $62.73 billion
- Euros: $11.8 billion
- Pound sterling: $8.97 billion
- Japanese yen: $4.81 billion