For the first time in history, India’s foreign exchange reserves crossed the $600 billion mark. The foreign exchange reserves stood at $605 billion on June 04. It almost tied with Russia and became the fourth largest reserve holder in the world. The top five countries in the list have reserves of at least 500 billion USD.
IMF defines foreign exchange reserve as an external asset that can be used by a country’s monetary authority to meet the balance of payments, financing needs or currency exchange rates in the market.
Here are the 10 countries with the largest foreign currency reserve assets as of 2021
| RANK | COUNTRY OR REGION | FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVE (trillions of US $) |
| 1 | China | 3,371,608 |
| 2 | Japan | 1,386,504 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 1,087,774 |
| 4 | India | 633,558 |
| 5 | Russia | 615,600 |
| 6 | Taiwan | 543,080 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | 491,600 |
| 8 | South Korea | 458,700 |
| 9 | Saudi Arabia | 445,657 |
| 10 | Singapore | 407,736 |
Some interesting facts about the top ten listed countries
- China- The forex of China has been the greatest among all the countries from last 14 years.
- Japan- It was the first country to reach $500 billion in reserves and had largest forex reserve in the world until China surpassed it in 2006.
- Switzerland- It’s the 5th country in the world to reach $500 billion in 2014, and 3rd country to reach $1 trillion at the end of 2020.
- India- In June 2021, India’s reserve exceeded $600 billion for the first time. It became the fifth country after Switzerland to do so.
- Russia- It has the fifth largest reserve. It is also the third country to reach $500 billion.
- Taiwan- On the list, Taiwan holds 6th position. It recorded highest forex in September 2021.
- Hong Kong- Currency reserve assets of Hong Kong amounted to $497.0 billion at the end of August 2021.
- South Korea- South Korean economy is the 12th largest economy in the world. It is largely dependent on international trade, a reason why it is mentioned in the list of top 10 largest exporter and importer countries.
- Saudi Arabia- The data of Saudi Arabia’s forex from January 2001 to July 2021 shows that it reached an all-time high of 731.2 USD billion in August 2014, and a record low of 37.4 USD billion in September 2002.
Singapore- The data of Singapore’s forex from April 2000 to July 2021 shows that it reached an all-time high of 403.3 USD billion in July 2021, and a record low of 73.1 USD billion in July 2001.
