Russia: Foreign exchange reserves!

Hello,

Reserves were formerly held only in gold, as official gold reserves. But under the Bretton Woods system, the United States pegged the dollar to gold, and allowed convertibility of dollars to gold. This effectively made dollars appear as good as gold. The U.S. later abandoned the gold standard, but the dollar has remained relatively stable as a flat currency, and it is still the most significant reserve currency. Central banks now typically hold large amounts of multiple currencies in reserve.

Rank	Country/Monetary Authority	Foreign exchange reserves (millions of USD)	Figures as of
—	World (sum of all countries)	$ 7,208,609	—
1	People’s Republic of China (does not include Hong Kong SAR & Macau SAR)	$ 1,589,900	January 2008
2	Japan	$ 1,007,981	February 2008
—	Eurozone (EU member states which have adopted the euro, incl. ECB)	$ 556,965	January 2008
3	Russia	$ 494,500	March 2008
4	India	$ 301,235	February 2008
5	Taiwan	$ 277,840	February 2008
6	South Korea	$ 262,400	February 2008
7	Brazil	$ 193,782	March 2008
8	Singapore	$ 171,735	February 2008
9	Hong Kong	$ 160,300	February 2008
10	Germany	$ 147,255	January 2008
11	France	$ 128,513	January 2008
12	Malaysia	$ 116,300	February 2008
13	Algeria	$ 110,000	December 2007
14	United Kingdom	$ 104,580	February 2008
15	Italy	$ 103,459	January 2008
16	Thailand	$ 100,500	February 2008
17	Mexico	$ 90,380	February 2008
18	Libya	$ 79,000	September 2007
19	Iran	$ 76,100	November 2007
20	Switzerland	$ 75,559	January 2008
21	Turkey	$ 74,900	February 2008
22	United States	$ 73,521	February 2008
23	Poland	$ 68,564	January 2008
—	European Central Bank (ECB, reserves not wholly owned by any single EU member)	$ 64,285	January 2008
24	Norway	$ 58,930	January 2008
25	Indonesia	$ 57,130	February 2008
26	Nigeria	$ 56,800	February 2008
27	Argentina	$ 49,000	February 2008
28	Canada	$ 43,613	February 2008
29	Romania	$ 41,078	January 2008
30	Czech Republic	$ 37,017	February 2008
31	Denmark	$ 36,317	January 2008
32	Philippines	$ 36,100	February 2008
33	Egypt	$ 32,915	February 2008
34	Venezuela	$ 32,723	March 2008
35	South Africa	$ 32,723	February 2008
36	Peru	$ 32,587	March 2008
37	Ukraine	$ 31,842	January 2008
38	Australia	$ 31,832	January 2008
39	Sweden	$ 31,561	January 2008
40	Saudi Arabia	$ 31,320	October 2007
41	United Arab Emirates	$ 29,620	2007 est.
42	Israel	$ 28,662	January 2008
43	Netherlands	$ 27,486	January 2008
44	Morocco	$ 25,690	January 2008
45	Hungary	$ 24,200	January 2008
46	Colombia	$ 21,850	February 2008
47	Iraq	$ 21,260	2007 est.
48	Vietnam	$ 20,000	September 2007
49	Spain	$ 19,999	January 2008
50	Kuwait	$ 19,630	2007 est.
51	Lebanon	$ 19,400	2007 est.
52	Kazakhstan	$ 19,040	February 2008
53	Slovakia	$ 18,964	January 2008
54	Austria	$ 18,831	January 2008
55	Bulgaria	$ 17,367	January 2008
56	New Zealand	$ 17,236	January 2008
57	Chile	$ 16,910	January 2008
58	Belgium	$ 16,717	January 2008
59	Serbia	$ 15,864	February 2008
60	Pakistan	$ 14,063	February 2008
61	Croatia	$ 13,819	January 2008
62	Macau	$ 13,600	January 2008
63	Angola	$ 12,290	2007 est.
64	Portugal	$ 12,530	January 2008
65	Botswana	$ 9,629	2007 est.
66	Finland	$ 8,602	January 2008
67	Jordan	$ 8,005	January 2008
68	Yemen	$ 7,871	2007 est.
69	Tunisia	$ 7,714	February 2008
70	Lithuania	$ 7,053	February 2008
71	Oman	$ 7,004	2007 est.
72	Trinidad and Tobago	$ 6,761	2007 est.
73	Cyprus	$ 6,176	2007 est.
74	Syria	$ 6,039	2007 est.
75	Qatar	$ 6,368	2007 est.
76	Latvia	$ 5,903	January 2008
77	Bangladesh	$ 5,490	January 2008
78	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$ 5,151	January 2008
79	Guatemala	$ 4,559	2007 est.
80	Bolivia	$ 4,917	2007 est.
81	Uruguay	$ 4,429	January 2008
82	Uzbekistan	$ 5,600	2007 est.
83	Cuba	$ 4,247	2007 est.
84	Azerbaijan	$ 4,000	2007 est.
85	Equatorial Guinea	$ 3,928	2007 est.
86	Costa Rica	$ 3,915	2007 est.
87	Belarus	$ 3,788	January 2008
88	Turkmenistan	$ 3,644	2007 est.
89	Ecuador	$ 3,618	2007 est.
90	Estonia	$ 3,581	February 2008
91	Malta	$ 3,522	2007 est.
92	Bahrain	$ 3,474	2007 est.
93	Greece	$ 3,387	January 2008
94	Kenya	$ 3,300	February 2008
95	Sri Lanka	$ 3,252	2007 est.
96	Honduras	$ 2,892	2007 est.
97	Ghana	$ 2,837	2007 est.
98	Iceland	$ 2,792	February 2008
99	Dominican Republic	$ 2,525	2007 est.
100	Côte d’Ivoire	$ 2,500	2007 est.
101	Paraguay	$ 2,463	2007 est.
102	Tanzania	$ 2,441	2007 est.
103	Cameroon	$ 2,341	2007 est.
104	Congo	$ 2,242	2007 est.
105	El Salvador	$ 2,224	January 2008
106	Papua New Guinea	$ 2,193	December 2007
107	Uganda	$ 2,100	2007 est.
108	Burma	$ 2,000	January 2008
109	Republic of Macedonia	$ 1,803	2007 est.
110	Mauritius	$ 1,772	2007 est.
111	Armenia	$ 1,657	December 2007
112	Albania	$ 1,615	December 2007
113	Cambodia	$ 1,600	December 2007
114	Jamaica	$ 1,490	December 2007
115	Mozambique	$ 1,470	November 2007
116	Gabon	$ 1,459	2007 est.
117	Moldova	$ 1,360	February 2008
118	Senegal	$ 1,350	2007 est.
119	Georgia	$ 1,300	2007 est.
120	Panama	$ 1,260	2007 est.
121	Sudan	$ 1,245	2007 est.
122	Kyrgyzstan	$ 1,155	January 2008
123	Zambia	$ 1,100	2007 est.
124	Slovenia	$ 1,076	January 2008
125	Nicaragua	$ 1,075	2007 est.
126	Chad	$ 997	2007 est.
127	Republic of Ireland	$ 930	January 2008
128	Burkina Faso	$ 897	2007 est.
129	Lesotho	$ 889	2007 est.
130	Ethiopia	$ 840	2007 est.
131	Benin	$ 825	2007 est.
132	Namibia	$ 750	2007 est.
133	Madagascar	$ 745	2007 est.
134	Barbados	$ 620	2007 est
135	Laos	$ 514	2007 est.
136	Rwanda	$ 511	2007 est.
137	Swaziland	$ 395	2007 est.
138	Togo	$ 363	2007 est.
139	Cape Verde	$ 344	2007 est.
140	Tajikistan	$ 301	2007 est.
141	Luxembourg	$ 294	January 2008
142	Guyana	$ 292	2007 est.
143	Haiti	$ 221	2007 est.
153	Vanuatu	$ 149	December 2007
144	Malawi	$ 140	2007 est.
145	Zimbabwe	$ 120	2007 est.
146	Gambia	$ 120	2007 est.
147	Guinea	$ 119	2007 est.
148	Burundi	$ 118	2007 est.
149	Seychelles	$ 118	2007 est.
150	Belize	$ 92	2007 est.
151	Samoa	$ 70	2004 est.
152	Tonga	$ 55	February 2008
154	São Tomé and Príncipe	$ 36	December 2007
155	Eritrea	$ 22	2007 est.