The IMF’s Dec. 20, 2024 update of its data on the currencies in which the world’s central banks hold their foreign exchange reserves, shows the U.S. dollar, although still dominant, has declined in share by nearly 1% in the third quarter of 2024, and ended that quarter at 57.4% of all “allocated reserves” held by all central banks. The change in the dollar’s share is a −1.9% decline over the past two years, but an 0.85% decline just during the July-September quarter of 2024, the last data included in the IMF’s update.
The IMF’s “unallocated reserves” likely refer to central bank holdings of gold and silver or in their own nation’s currency; and if that assumption is made, then U.S. dollar reserves have fallen to about 55% of the total forex reserves held by central banks.
