Africa is estimated to hold more than 10 of global oil reserves and one third of reserves of cobalt and base metals.

Africa s natural gas reserves amount to about 8 of global reserves.

It has 10 of global oil reserves.

In 2008, the last year for which figures are available, Japan held 23.4 of the world s reserves and China held 44.8 .

Much of the world s gold reserves ended up in the hands of the US.

Developing countries main defense against world financial instability has been to accumulate international reserves.

Reserves

Western officials were also swayed by concerns about the stability of supplies in the Middle East, which accounts for a large proportion of the world s proven reserves.

OXFORD Throughout the history of the oil industry, fear and concern about the imminent exhaustion of oil reserves has been a recurring theme.

This growth in reserves, while providing insurance to developing countries, created a new source of global volatility.

(l) Other reserves

(j) Operating reserves

Unfortunately, the recent demonstration of the volatility of global financial markets only encourages the tendency to stockpile reserves.

So, instead of becoming the principal reserve asset of the global system, the proportion of SDRs in global reserves shrank to a tiny fraction, rendering the SDR the monetary equivalent of Esperanto.

Covering this drop in reserves more than half of gas reserves and a fifth of oil reserves have been consumed with imports implies an annual cost of more than 300 billion.

Table 6 Comparison of reserves and staff liabilities

Other reserves comprise the following

(g) Transfers to reserves

In fact, the bulk of recent growth in world reserves is due not to new discoveries, but mainly to reserve growth and improved recovery rates.

The activities on all reserves are shown as follows

Industries are becoming increasingly complex and global competition is mounting. The companies that will be best placed to survive will be those that took the proper precautions to avoid being run off the road.

Thus, the renminbi is unlikely to challenge the dollar s role as the largest component of world reserves (more than 60 ) in the next decade.

But the world soon became awash in dollars. So, instead of becoming the principal reserve asset of the global system, the proportion of SDRs in global reserves shrank to a tiny fraction, rendering the SDR the monetary equivalent of Esperanto.

a Including earmarked reserves, the total reserves are 70 million for 2002, 93 million for 2003 and 68 million for 2004.

Petrobrás, with its global interests, could never accept this invitation, particularly given its effort to obtain the financing that it needs to develop Brazil s immense offshore oil reserves.

The build up of reserves contributes to global imbalances and insufficient global aggregate demand, as countries put aside hundreds of billions of dollars as a precaution against global volatility.

The world s currency reserves were held in a slightly lop sided way at the end of 1971, Germany had reserves worth 17.2 billion, and Japan s were worth 14.1 billion 14 and 11.5 of the world s total, respectively.

Meanwhile, the fraction of international reserves held in euros grew from 18 to 24 , and the dollar s share dropped from 71 to 66 .

a Including earmarked reserves, the total reserves are 70 million for 2002, 93 million for 2003 and 68 million for 2004.

Total reserves of titanium are estimated to exceed 600 million tonnes.

The idea was to permit countries whose official dollar holdings were larger than they were comfortable with to convert dollars into SDRs.

First, unlike in some other countries, Chinese commercial banks are paid reasonable interest rates on required reserves, except for the extra reserves that they hold.

The problem for post WWII Europe, mired in depression and inflation, was that it lacked foreign reserves, which meant that trade carried a high opportunity cost. To facilitate trade without requiring payment after each transaction, the Organization for European Economic Cooperation created the European Payments Union in 1950.

The obvious candidate for this reserve fund was US Treasury bills.

Selling 2 trillion of reserves will take years.

At the time of the announcement, the country had 5.65 billion in cash reserves.

Run down the financial reserves and wealth that were accumulated when the economy was doing better.

Today, currencies other than the dollar account for 40 of identified international reserves.

The problem is not a lack of reserves, but Gazprom s investment strategy.

The first is to weaken China s incentive to accumulate reserves.

But almost all of the reserves sit idle on commercial banks balance sheets.

In normal times, there are valid reasons for paying interest on excess reserves.

Western officials were also swayed by concerns about the stability of supplies in the Middle East, which accounts for a large proportion of the world s proven reserves. Some developing countries, most notably Brazil, have discovered huge potential offshore riches.

Despite opposition from environmental groups, these reserves will be easier to exploit than those in Europe, because they are largely located in sparsely populated areas.

With China running a seemingly perpetual external surplus, foreign currency reserves have continued to mount even during the global economic crisis, with net growth reaching 140 billion in the third quarter of this year.