Foreign currency drains

Foreign currency drains refers to Sections II and III of the international reserves template and includes predetermined and contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency assets.

The predetermined short-term net drains include the known or scheduled contractual obligations (derived from actual assets or liabilities) of the monetary authorities in foreign currencies with both residents and non-residents for the following 12 months. They include:

• payments of principal and interest associated with loans, securities and deposits not included in the official reserve assets or the other foreign currency assets
• off-balance-sheet activities that give rise to predetermined flows as commitments in forwards, swaps and future contracts
• flows relating to repos and gold swaps, reverse repos if not already included under foreign currency resources (Section I), and accounts payable and receivable if materially significant

Contingent short-term net drains include outflows and inflows that refer to contractual obligations that give rise to potential additions or depletions of foreign currency assets. They are reported as off-balance-sheet activities, contingent upon exogenous events and can arise from positions with either residents or non-residents.