Canada Monetary Reserves Increase $1.58 Billion in August

By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA--Canada's official international reserves rose by $1.58 billion last month, the federal finance department said Thursday.

As of Aug. 30, the country's reserves of foreign currencies and other monetary assets totaled $125.78 billion, an increase from $124.21 billion the month before.

The government reported no intervention in the foreign-currency market in the latest month, 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 rose by $554 million to $2.17 billion as of the end of August. Canada bills are short-term securities sold on the U.S. money market.

At Aug. 30, foreign-currency reserves included securities of $84.24 billion, deposits of $12.91 billion, special drawing rights of $23.07 billion, and a reserve position in the International Monetary Fund of $3.84 billion, the finance department said.

The $1.58 billion net increase in reserves in August involved:

--reserves management operations down $225 million;

--return on investments up $1.19 billion;

--foreign-currency debt charges down $360 million;

--revaluation effects up $974 million;

--no net government operations;

--no official intervention reported.

The currency composition of deposits and securities at end-August included: $68.49 billion U.S. dollars, $13.54 billion euro, $9.62 billion pound sterling, and $5.5 billion yen.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-05-24 0829ET