Information notice on the official gold and foreign exchange reserves of the South African Reserve Bank as at 31 December 2021

P O Box 427 Pretoria 0001 South Africa 370 Helen Joseph Street Pretoria 0002 [phone] / 0861 12 7272 www.resbank.co.za

Financial Markets Department

File ref. no.: 16/6/2/7/1

Information notice on the official gold and foreign exchange reserves of the South African Reserve Bank as at 31 December 2021

This notice provides detail of the US dollar equivalent of the level of the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB) official gold and foreign exchange reserves, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and foreign currency deposits received from customers published today in the SARB's Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31 December 2021.

	31 December 2021	30 November 2021	Change(1)
	(US$ millions)	(US$ millions)	(US$ millions)
Gold reserves	7 327	7 215	112
SDR holdings	6 603	6 608	(5)
Foreign exchange reserves(2)	43 659	43 795	(136)
Gross reserves	57 589	57 618	(29)
Foreign currency deposits received(3)	(5 684)	(6 111)	427
Forward position(4)	3 404	3 653	(249)
International liquidity position	55 309	55 160	149
Exchange rates			% change
EUR/US$	1.1332	1.1347	(0.13)
GBP/US$	1.3509	1.3336	1.30
US$/ZAR	15.8959	16.0307	(0.84)
SDR/US$	1.3996	1.4008	(0.01)
US$/CNY	6.3565	6.3724	(0.25)
Gold price			% change
Market (US$)	1 818.25	1 790.36	1.56
Statutory (ZAR)	28 902.72	28 700.72	0.70

1. Figures might not add up due to rounding.
2. Foreign exchange reserves include foreign currency deposits received (FDR).
3. FDR balances include the foreign loans and foreign exchange purchases by the National Treasury (NT), both through outright purchases and foreign exchange swaps.
4. The forward position mainly reflects outstanding foreign exchange forward transactions. These include foreign exchange swaps to sterilise foreign exchange purchases and liquidity management swaps.
5. Sterilisation foreign exchange swaps refers to swaps conducted to sterilise foreign exchange purchases from foreign direct investments and other foreign exchange inflows, such as from International Finance Institutions (IFI'S).
6. Liquidity management swaps refers to foreign exchange swaps conducted in the normal course of business to manage money market liquidity.

The changes in the gross reserves and international liquidity position were mainly due to the increase in the US dollar gold price, the depreciation of the US dollar against other currencies and matured foreign exchange swaps conducted for sterilisation purposes. These factors were substantially offset by foreign exchange payments made on behalf of government.