List of countries by foreign-exchange reserves

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For reserves excluding gold, see List of countries by foreign-exchange reserves (excluding gold).

Foreign-exchange reserves (also called Forex reserves) are, in a strict sense, only the foreign-currency deposits held by national central banks and monetary authorities (See List of countries by foreign-exchange reserves (excluding gold)). However, in popular usage and in the list below, it also includes gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve position because this total figure, which is usually more accurately termed as official reserves or international reserves or official international reserves, is more readily available and also arguably more meaningful.

These foreign-currency deposits are the financial assets of the central banks and monetary authorities that are held in different reserve currencies (e.g. the U.S. dollar, the Euro, the Japanese yen and the Pound sterling) and which are used to back its liabilities (e.g. the local currency issued and the various bank reserves deposited with the central bank by the government or financial institutions). Before the end of the gold standard, gold was the preferred reserve currency. Some nations are converting foreign-exchange reserves into sovereign wealth funds, which can rival foreign-exchange reserves in size.

The list below is mostly based on the latest available IMF data, and while most nations report in U.S. dollars, a few nations in Eastern Europe report solely in Euros. And since all the figures below are in U.S. dollar equivalents, exchange rate fluctuations can have a significant impact on these figures.

Contents

• 1Foreign exchange reserves
• 2Timeline of the top 5 countries
• 3Currency composition of foreign exchange reserves
• 4Notes
• 5References
• 6External links

Foreign exchange reserves[edit]

Rank [a]	Country or region	Foreign exchange reserves (millions of US$)	Figures as of	Change from previous data (millions of US$) weekly/monthly
1	China[b]	3,298,220	July 2020[1]	54,898
2	Japan	1,383,164	June 2020[2]	4,925
3	Switzerland	896,111	June 2020[3][4]	48,414
4	Russia	600,700[c]	07 Aug 2020[5]	9,100
5	India	538,191[d]	07 Aug 2020[6]	3,623
6	Taiwan[e]	496,170	July 2020[7]	7,480
7	Saudi Arabia	447,356[f]	June 2020[8]	1,876
8	Hong Kong	445,900	June 2020[9]	1,100
9	South Korea	416,500	July 2020[10]	5,800
10	Brazil	348,781	June 2020[11]	3,075
11	Singapore	321,351	July 2020[12]	8,854
12	Thailand	274,492	July 2020[13]	N/A
13	Germany	245,055	April 2020[14]	10,628
14	France	237,831	April 2020[15]	40,565
15	Mexico	196,146	April 2020[16]	6,366
16	Italy	190,217	April 2020[17]	8,823
17	United Kingdom	179,225	May 2020[18]	849
18	Israel	157,662	July 2020[19]	10,325
19	Czech Republic	150,885	June 2020[20]	381
20	United States	132,239[g]	May 2020[21]	2,975
21	Indonesia	130,544	May 2020[22]	3,336
22	Poland	112,943	March 2020[23]	458
23	United Arab Emirates	106,463	March 2020[24]	3,092
24	Malaysia	102,484	April 2020[25]	781
25	Philippines	93,319	June 2020[26]	4,323
26	Canada	87,322	May 2020[27]	1,222
27	Turkey	86,345	June 2020[28]	4,161
28	Iran[h]	86,000	February 2020[29]	N/A
29	Vietnam	81,413	April 2020[30]	268.4
-	Europe (ECB)[i]	79,240	April 2020[31]	3,900
30	Spain	79,664	July 2020[32]	420
31	Libya[j]	71,629	September 2017[33]	N/A
32 +2	Norway	69,139	March 2020[34][35]	4,931
33	Peru	68,150	March 2020[36][37]	1,933
34   -3	Algeria	62,000	February 2020[38]	10,600
35 +2	Australia	55,922	March 2020[39]	1,383
36 +4	Colombia	55,000	May 2020[40]	2,430
37	Sweden	54,648	March 2020[41]	1,455
38   -3	Denmark	54,251	March 2020[42]	8,313
39	Lebanon	53,100	31 December 2017[29]
40	South Africa	53,003	April 2020[43]	576
41	Azerbaijan	47,500	April 2019[44]
42	Iraq	47,020	31 December 2017[29]
43	Netherlands	44,859	March 2020[45]	80
44	Romania	42,654	March 2020[46]	1,910
45	Kuwait	40,600	February 2020[47]	203
46	Argentina	39,189	February 2020[48]	317
47	Qatar	37,729	February 2020[49][50]	430
48	Bulgaria	36,991	March 2020[51]	300
49	Chile	36,777	March 2020[52]	1,879
50	Nigeria	36,563	June 2020[53][k]	2,673
51	Egypt	36,254	April 2020[54]	3,039
52	Bangladesh	37180	29 July 2020[55]	760
53	Kazakhstan	29,967	March 2020[51]	76
54	Belgium	29,676	March 2020[51]	46
55	Ukraine	28,800	August 2020[51]	300
56	Hungary	28,209	March 2020[51]	988
57	Portugal	27,053	March 2020[51]	1,671
58	Austria	26,443	March 2020[51]	557
59	Morocco	24,644	February 2020[51]	326
60 +3	New Zealand	23,897	March 2020[51]	4,959
61	Macau, China	22,430	April 2020[56]	391
62	Croatia	21,304	February 2020[51]	430
63	Turkmenistan	20,600	December 2017[29]	N/A
64	North Korea	8,000	November 2013[57]
65	Jordan	17,267	March 2020[51]	129
66	Angola	17,012	June 2019[58][59][l]
67	Uzbekistan	16,000	31 December 2017[29]	N/A
68	Oman	15,867	February 2020[51]	469
69 +3	Uruguay	15,340	April 2020[60]	1,100
70	Guatemala	14,511	September 2019[51]
71	Serbia	14,515	September 2019[m]
72	Cambodia	13,886	2018[61]
73	Cuba	12,800	31 Dec 2017[29]
74	Kenya	12,766	January 2020[61]
75	Pakistan	12,469	07 Aug 2020 [62]	73
76	Finland	11,463	May 2020[63]	394
77	Greece	9,798	April 2020[64]	670
78 +4	Paraguay	8,541	April 2020[65]	800
79   -1	Nepal	8,180	April 2020[66]	490
80	Belarus	7,883	April 2020[63]	1311
81	Afghanistan	7,800	30 March 2019[67]
82	Dominican Republic	7,591	September 2019[63]
83	Ghana	7,555	31 December 2017[29]
84	Sri Lanka	7,525	24 April 2020[68]
85	Slovakia	7,524	April 2020[63]
86	Costa Rica	7,482	September 2019[63]
87	Botswana	7,476	31 December 2017[29]
88	Mauritius	7,217	September 2019[63]
89	Trinidad and Tobago	7,103	October 2019[69]
90	Iceland	6,776	October 2019[63]
91 -12	Bolivia	6,467	January 2020[70]	2,000
92 -14	Venezuela	6,330	May 2020[71]	2,200
93	Ireland	5,644	October 2019[63]
94	Tunisia	5,540	October 2019[63]
95 +5	Ecuador	5,377	April 2020[72]	431
96	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5,370	31 December 2017[29]
97	Myanmar	5,032	31 December 2017[29][n]
98	Honduras	5,005	July 2019[63]
99	El Salvador	4,735	September 2019[63]
100	Ivory Coast	4,688	31 December 2017[29]
101	Latvia	4,498	September 2019[63]
102	Lithuania	4,481	October 2019[63]
103	Tanzania	4,174	31 December 2017[29]
104	Mongolia	3,986	September 2019[63]
105	Panama	3,888	31 December 2017[29]
106	Albania	3,724	October 2019[63]
107	Jamaica	3,605	March 2019[63]
108	North Macedonia	3,420	September 2019[63]
109	Bahrain	3,415	29 February 2020[citation needed]
110	Brunei	3,407	2018[61]
111	Georgia	3,387	October 2019[63]
112	Ethiopia	3,147	31 December 2017[29]
113	Uganda	3,045	31 December 2017[29]
114	Moldova	2,942	September 2019[63]
115	Armenia	2,840	December 2019[73]
116	Zambia	2,426	31 December 2017[29]
117	Cameroon	2,357	31 December 2017[29]
118	Kyrgyzstan	2,203	September 2019[63]
119	Nicaragua	2,201	August 2019[63]
120	Mozambique	2,193	31 December 2017[29]
121	Haiti	2,044	31 December 2017[29]
122	Namibia	1,949	31 December 2017[29]
123	Papua New Guinea	1,800	31 December 2017[29]
124	Madagascar	1,740	2018[61]
125	Bahamas	1,414	2017[61]
126	Estonia	1,352	October 2019[63]
127	Tajikistan	1,284	2018[61]
128	Montenegro	1,261	2018[61]
138	Bhutan	1,238.	2019[61]
129	Guinea	1,225	2018[61]
130	Luxembourg	1,070	October 2019[63]
131	Curaçao	1,055	31 October 2019[74][o]
132	Niger	1,039	2015[61][failed verification]
133	Cyprus	1,034	October 2019[63]
134	Rwanda	1,026	31 December 2017[29]
135	Slovenia	1,022	October 2019[63]
136	Laos	990	31 December 2017[29]
137	Aruba	980	2018[61]
139	Lesotho	983	31 December 2017[29]
140	Fiji	967	31 December 2017[29]
141	Mauritania	934	2018[61]
142	Malta	890	October 2019[63]
143	Kosovo	881	2018[61]
144	Gabon	835	31 December 2017[29]
145	Republic of the Congo	813	31 December 2017[29]
146	Malawi	760	2018[61]
147	Maldives	722	2018[61]
148	Timor-Leste	674	2018[61]
149	Palestine	632	August 2019[63][p]
150	Mali	624	2015[61][failed verification]
151	Solomon Islands	617	2018[61]
152	Cape Verde	606	2018[61]
153	Seychelles	535	September 2019[63]
154	Guyana	518	2018[61]
155	Sierra Leone	503	2018[61]
156	Suriname	581	2018[61]
157	Liberia	475	2017[61]
158	Djibouti	454	2018[61]
159	Democratic Republic of the Congo	445	31 December 2017[29]
160	Eswatini	441	2018[61]
161	Vanuatu	421	2018[61]
162	Equatorial Guinea	416	31 December 2017[29]
163	Syria	407	31 December 2017[29]
164	Antigua and Barbuda	389	2018[61]
165	Saint Kitts and Nevis	363	2018[61]
166	Central African Republic	362	2018[61]
167	San Marino	339	2018[61]
168	Guinea-Bissau	332	2015[61][failed verification]
169	Belize	294	2018[61]
170	Saint Lucia	286	2018[61]
171	Tonga	277	2018[61]
172	Eritrea	237	31 December 2017[29]
173	Grenada	234	2018[61]
174	Togo	215	31 December 2017[29]
175	Barbados	205	31 December 2017[29]
176	Yemen	245	31 December 2017[29]
177	Sudan	178	2017[61]
178	Federated States of Micronesia	204	2017[61]
179	Comoros	199	2018[61]
180	Gambia	192	2018[61]
181	Dominica	191	2018[61]
182	Samoa	170	2018[61]
183	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	170	2018[61]
184	Senegal	152	31 December 2017[29]
185	Chad	148	2018[61]
186	Zimbabwe	87	2018[61]
187	South Sudan	68	2016[61]
188	Burundi	68	2018[61]
189	Benin	60	31 December 2017[29]
190	Montserrat	49	31 December 2017[29]
191	Burkina Faso	45	31 December 2017[29]
192	São Tomé and Príncipe	47	2018[61]
193	Somalia	32	30 December 2017[29]
194	Kiribati	7	31 December 2017[29]

Timeline of the top 5 countries[edit]

The five countries with the largest foreign exchange reserves almost all have reserves of at least 500 billion USD and higher and have maintained such an amount for at least a week. At present there are only five countries whose reserves are at such a figure; this includes China, Japan, Russia, Switzerland and India. Saudi Arabia formerly included on the list until March 2020; its reserves were severely depleted by the low oil price during the economic fallout of from the global outbreak of coronavirus disease, its ongoing oil price war with Russia and competition from US shale oil.^[76]

The images below shows the timeline of their reserves since the earliest available forex data. The list is in accordance to their respective positions.

China

Foreign Exchange Reserves of China

The foreign-exchange reserves of China are the greatest of all countries and been so for more than 14 years.^[77][78] The main composition of Chinese forex reserves is approximately two-thirds USD and one-fifth Euros with the rest made up of Japanese Yen and the British Pound. China is also the only country that has ever had net reserves greater than $4 trillion.

Japan

Foreign Exchange Reserves of Japan

Japanese foreign exchange reserves are the second biggest reserves in the world. Japan was the first country to reach $500 billion in reserves and had the highest forex reserves in the world until they were surpassed by China in 2006. Since 2006 they have remained in second place with over $1 trillion, being only the second country to surpass such an amount.^[79]

Switzerland

Foreign Exchange Reserves of Switzerland in CHF

Swiss forex reserves are the third biggest reserves in the world and reached $500 Billion in 2014 becoming fifth country to do so after Saudi Arabia. Swiss reserves are compiled in Swiss franc. The high reserves are mainly because of their historic high net trade surplus.

Russia

Foreign Exchange Reserves of Russia

Russian reserves are the world's fourth biggest; they were the third country to reach $500 billion.^[80] The first fall in reserves was because of the 2008 financial crisis, the second fall in 2015 was due to sanctions imposed by the European Union following the Russian annexation of the Crimea.

India

Foreign Exchange Reserves of India

The Foreign-exchange reserves of India became the fifth largest on 5th June 2020 after the Reserve Bank of India released its weekly bulletin. On 12th June 2020 reserves exceeded $500 billion for the first time and they became the sixth country after Switzerland to do so.^[81] During the 1991 Indian economic crisis country only had $5 billion of reserves left which led to subsequent economic liberalisation. Since then the reserves had seen a 10,000% increase in under 30 years.^[82]

Currency composition of foreign exchange reserve