Canada’s official international reserves saw a decrease of $2.24 billion in September, primarily due to a net loss on investments, according to the federal finance department. As of September 30, the country’s reserves of foreign currencies and other monetary assets totaled $112.45 billion, down from $114.69 billion the previous month.
No intervention in the foreign-currency market occurred in July, and there were no gold holdings at the end of that month. All reserve figures are reported in U.S. dollars.
The amount of outstanding Canada bills also decreased by $734 million, reaching $1.88 billion by the end of September. Canada bills are short-term securities sold on the U.S. money market.
The composition of foreign-currency reserves as of September 30 included securities of $79.79 billion, deposits of $4.84 billion, special drawing rights of $23.10 billion, and a reserve position in the International Monetary Fund of $4.21 billion, according to the finance department.
The $2.24 billion net decrease in reserves in September can be attributed to several factors, including a decrease in reserves management operations ($234 million), a decrease in return on investments ($813 million), a decrease in foreign-currency debt charges ($141 million), and revaluation effects ($1.05 billion). Net government operations remained unchanged, and no official intervention was reported.
The currency composition of deposits and securities as of September 30 included $59.78 billion U.S. dollars, $10.93 billion euros, $8.05 billion pound sterling, and $5.87 billion yen.
