U.S. International Reserve Position (2024)

FAQs

How much does US have in foreign reserves? ›

United States Foreign Exchange Reserves was measured at 36.4 USD bn in Jul 2024, compared with 35.2 USD bn in the previous month See the table below for more data.

U.S. official reserve assets 2000-2022

In 2022, the official reserve assets of the United States totaled to about 706.91 billion U.S. dollars. This is an increase from the year 2000, when the Federal Reserve's assets came to 128.4 billion U.S. dollars.

SOMA and ESF foreign currency reserves are currently held in euros and Japanese yen and are passively managed. These assets are invested, as directed, in various instruments that have high degrees of liquidity and safety to achieve the policy directives of the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury.

The US dollar has served as the world's leading reserve currency since World War II. Today, the dollar represents 58 percent of the value of foreign reserve holdings worldwide. The euro, the second-most-used currency, comprises only 20 percent of foreign reserve holdings.

China has by far the largest foreign currency reserves, with over two and a half times more than the second-largest reserve holder, Japan. When China's and Hong Kong's reserves are considered together, the total is more than $4 trillion.

Nearly 190,000 Army Reserve Soldiers and 11,000 Civilians are present in all 50 States, five U.S. territories, and deployed to 23 countries around the world.

The financial position of the United States includes assets of at least $269 trillion (1576% of GDP) and debts of $145.8 trillion (852% of GDP) to produce a net worth of at least $123.8 trillion (723% of GDP).

Even with de-dollarization, the U.S. dollar remains the world's currency reserve.

We expect 2024 to be a year of diverging trends for the dollar. It will likely move lower on a broad trade-weighted basis early in the year but stabilize as the year progresses. Although we expect a general downward drift for the dollar, performance of individual currencies will likely vary widely.

What is US currency backed by? ›

Prior to 1971, the US dollar was backed by gold. Today, the dollar is backed by 2 things: the government's ability to generate revenues (via debt or taxes), and its authority to compel economic participants to transact in dollars.

If a country cannot acquire additional reserves and if it does not change domestic policies in a way that causes excess demand for foreign currency to cease or reverse, then the country will run out of foreign reserves and will no longer be able to maintain a credible fixed exchange rate.

Current holdings

As of 2021, the U.S. gold reserves total 8,134 metric tons.

While the dollar remains the key currency, it nonetheless faces challenges around the world, with the share of the US dollar in allocated currency reserves declining gradually but steadily over the last twenty years.

General Balance Sheet Trends

Overall, as shown in table 1, the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet decreased roughly $90 billion from about $8.8 trillion on September 28, 2022, to about $8.7 trillion as of March 29, 2023.

As of July 2024, China's foreign exchange reserves totaled US$3.256 trillion, which is the highest foreign exchange reserves of any country. The management of foreign exchange reserves is governed by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and the People's Bank of China.

U.S. official reserve assets held in gold 2000-2023

In 2023, the official reserve assets of the United States held in gold had a value of approximately 543.5 billion U.S. dollars. In 2000, the Federal Reserve had official reserve assets in gold worth about 71.8 billion U.S. dollars.