The Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER) is a statistical database maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that records the currency-by-currency breakdown of official foreign exchange reserves held by central banks and monetary authorities. It is published quarterly by the IMF's Statistics Department and is one of the most closely watched indicators of global currency dominance.
COFER disaggregates reserves into "allocated" reserves (those whose currency composition is reported) and "unallocated" reserves (where the reporting authority does not disclose the breakdown). For allocated reserves, the IMF publishes shares of major currencies including the U.S. dollar, euro, Japanese yen, pound sterling, Chinese renminbi, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, and Swiss franc. The renminbi was added as a separately identified reserve currency in the fourth quarter of 2016, following its inclusion in the IMF's Special Drawing Right (SDR) basket on 1 October 2016.
Reporting is voluntary and confidential at the individual-country level: the IMF publishes only aggregates for the world, advanced economies, and emerging and developing economies. Participation has expanded significantly over time, with coverage of allocated reserves rising above 90% of total reserves in recent years.
COFER is widely cited in debates over de-dollarization, the international role of the euro, and the rise of non-traditional reserve currencies. The U.S. dollar's share of allocated reserves has gradually declined from roughly 70% in the early 2000s to under 60% by the early 2020s, though it remains the dominant reserve currency. Researchers use COFER alongside SWIFT payments data and BIS triennial surveys to assess shifts in the international monetary system.
For MUN committees on international finance (e.g., ECOFIN, IMF simulations, G20) and for think-tank work on monetary sovereignty, COFER provides the authoritative baseline for claims about reserve-currency trends.
Example
In its Q4 2023 COFER release, the IMF reported that the U.S. dollar accounted for roughly 58% of allocated global reserves, while the renminbi's share slipped to about 2.3%.
Frequently asked questions
Central banks and monetary authorities voluntarily and confidentially report to the IMF; only global and group-level aggregates are published, never individual country breakdowns.
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