Canada Monetary Reserves Increase $2.84 Billion in December

By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA--Canada's official international reserves rose by $2.84 billion in December, the federal finance department said Thursday.

As of Dec. 29, the country's reserves of foreign currencies and other monetary assets totaled $118.28 billion, an increase from $115.44 billion the month before.

The government reported no intervention in the foreign-currency market in November, and there were no gold holdings at the end of the month.

All reserve figures are reported in U.S. dollars.

The finance department said that the amount of Canada bills outstanding increased by $626 million to $3.35 billion for the month. Canada bills are short-term securities sold on the U.S. money market.

At Dec. 29, foreign-currency reserves included securities of $87.71 billion, deposits of $8.20 billion, special drawing rights of $23.42 billion, and a reserve position in the International Monetary Fund of $4.22 billion, the finance department said.

The $2.84 billion net increase in reserves in December involved:

--reserves management operations up $466 million;

--return on investments up $1.86 billion;

--foreign-currency debt charges down $159 million;

--revaluation effects up $668 million;

--no net government operations;

--no official intervention reported.

The currency composition of deposits and securities at Dec. 29 included: $63.64 billion U.S. dollars, $11.98 billion euro, $9.08 billion pound sterling and $5.21 billion yen.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-04-24 0829ET