Reserve assets consist of those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for direct financing of payments imbalances, for indirectly regulating the magnitude of such imbalances through intervention in exchange markets to affect the currency exchange rate and/or for other purposes.
The category of reserve assets in the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual, Fifth Edition (BPM5) comprises:
- monetary gold;
- special drawing rights (SDRs);
- reserve position in the Fund;
- foreign exchange assets (consisting of currency and deposits and securities); and
- other claims