The Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER) dataset provides statistics on official foreign exchange reserves by currency. The currencies identified in the COFER dataset are: U.S. dollar, Pound sterling, Japanese yen, Swiss francs, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Chinese renminbi, and Euro. All other currencies are included in the category of other currencies. Prior to the introduction of the Euro in 1999, certain European currencies were separately identified in COFER (European Currency Unit, Deutsche mark, French franc, and the Netherlands guilder).
COFER data for individual countries are strictly confidential. At present there are 149 reporters, consisting of the monetary authorities of IMF member countries and non-IMF member countries/economies; and of other foreign exchange reserves holding entities. COFER includes a list of the participating economies that agreed to disclose their names. SDDS Plus adherents are required to participate in the COFER database and to disclose their participation.
The data published on this website are world aggregates for each currency. In 2015, the IMF decided to discontinue the publication of geographical breakdowns—advanced economies and emerging markets and developing economies—to avoid possible residual disclosure of individual data with the release of the list of countries who have agreed to publish their names as COFER reporters.
The concept and definition of foreign exchange reserves data reported to COFER are consistent with the Other reserve assets category of reserve assets as outlined in the seven edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM7). Foreign exchange reserves are reserve assets other than Monetary gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), and Reserve Position in the IMF; and consist of the monetary authorities' claims on nonresidents in the form of: Currency and deposits, Securities, Financial derivatives, and Other claims.
In the context of COFER, Allocated Reserves is the category in which reporting countries identify and report the currency of denomination of their foreign exchange reserves. Unallocated Reserves is a residual COFER category consisting of the difference between the total foreign exchange reserves sourced from the IMF’s International Liquidity dataset (IL) and Allocated Reserves. Unallocated Reserves has two components: (i) the total foreign exchange reserves of countries who do not report to COFER; and (ii) the discrepancy (if any) between the IL total foreign exchange reserves and Allocated Reserves of COFER reporters.