Canada Monetary Reserves Rise $2.99 Billion in December

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--Canada's official international reserves rose $2.99 billion in December, the federal finance department said Thursday.

As of Dec. 31, the reserves of foreign currencies and other monetary assets totaled $106.62 billion, an increase from a revised $103.63 billion a month earlier.

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

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

The finance department reported that the amount of Canada bills outstanding increased by $661 million to $3.95 billion as of the end of December. Canada bills are short-term securities sold on the U.S. money market.

Canada's finance department said the foreign-currency reserves at Dec. 31 included securities of $71.82 billion; deposits $6.33 billion; special drawing rights $24.00 billion; and reserve position in the International Monetary Fund $4.47 billion.

The $2.99 billion net increase in the reserves in December involved:

--reserves management operations up $3.30 billion;

--return on investments down $277 million;

--foreign-currency debt charges down $56 million;

--revaluation effects up $25 million;

--net government operations unchanged;

--no official intervention reported.

Currency composition of deposits and securities at Dec. 31 included: U.S. dollars $55.38 billion, euro $10.90 billion, pound sterling $6.68 billion, yen $5.19 billion.

Write to Paul Vieira at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-06-22 0837ET