United Kingdom | Total reserves (includes gold, current US$)

Total reserves comprise holdings of monetary gold, special drawing rights, reserves of IMF members held by the IMF, and holdings of foreign exchange under the control of monetary authorities. The gold component of these reserves is valued at year-end (December 31) London prices. Data are in current U.S. dollars. Development relevance: The balance of payments records an economy’s transactions with the rest of the world. Balance of payments accounts are divided into two groups: the current account, which records transactions in goods, services, primary income, and secondary income, and the capital and financial account, which records capital transfers, acquisition or disposal of nonproduced, nonfinancial assets, and transactions in financial assets and liabilities. The current account balance is one of the most analytically useful indicators of an external imbalance. A primary purpose of the balance of payments accounts is to indicate the need to adjust an external imbalance. Where to draw the line for analytical purposes requires a judgment concerning the imbalance that best indicates the need for adjustment. There are a number of definitions in common use for this and related analytical purposes. The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports of goods. From an analytical view it is arbitrary to distinguish goods from services. For example, a unit of foreign exchange earned by a freight company strengthens the balance of payments to the same extent as the foreign exchange earned by a goods exporter. Even so, the trade balance is useful because it is often the most timely indicator of trends in the current account balance. Customs authorities are typically able to provide data on trade in goods long before data on trade in services are available. Limitations and exceptions: Discrepancies may arise in the balance of payments because there is no single source for balance of payments data and therefore no way to ensure that the data are fully consistent. Sources include customs data, monetary accounts of the banking system, external debt records, information provided by enterprises, surveys to estimate service transactions, and foreign exchange records. Differences in collection methods - such as in timing, definitions of residence and ownership, and the exchange rate used to value transactions - contribute to net errors and omissions. In addition, smuggling and other illegal or quasi-legal transactions may be unrecorded or misrecorded. Statistical concept and methodology: The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Records
63
Source
United Kingdom | Total reserves (includes gold, current US$)
1960 3767016800.5031
1961 3327714600.0156
1962 3313161730.518
1963 3153679120.5051
1964 2322326240.0156
1965 3011764240.0156
1966 3109538540.0156
1967 2702371600
1968 2712427900.0156
1969 2535411000.0156
1970 2918294770.2657
1971 8956892354.1658
1972 6214060489.4836
1973 7946929575.5968
1974 9959015733.3056
1975 7547578527.0781
1976 6208263109.9422
1977 23778086730.672
1978 21184736971.547
1979 29084847008.512
1980 31755311531.29
1981 22802299491.445
1982 21083020684.692
1983 18593267595.715
1984 15306822447.563
1985 19081735746.924
1986 25853390487.558
1987 50917928958.405
1988 51899597618.132
1989 42381854893.737
1990 43145747847.306
1991 48572195808.563
1992 42844142573.852
1993 43982206193.943
1994 48079032624.077
1995 49144184297.856
1996 46700021359.84
1997 37662299516.278
1998 38829795838.121
1999 46188288221.517
2000 50939389681.351
2001 47417467709.443
2002 54959281998.98
2003 56349681040.08
2004 62138194998.752
2005 59135108205.007
2006 63823577313.643
2007 77715465906.566
2008 64785716443.251
2009 79453490100.247
2010 98025460114.425
2011 109733899591.29
2012 117156976864.59
2013 118750193779.68
2014 124487425221.3
2015 148109299505.9
2016 134931850848.28
2017 150857673778.94
2018 172657749536.32
2019 173569199262.77
2020 180054101389.55
2021 194181397315.03
2022 176409966646.61

United Kingdom | Total reserves (includes gold, current US$)

Total reserves comprise holdings of monetary gold, special drawing rights, reserves of IMF members held by the IMF, and holdings of foreign exchange under the control of monetary authorities. The gold component of these reserves is valued at year-end (December 31) London prices. Data are in current U.S. dollars. Development relevance: The balance of payments records an economy’s transactions with the rest of the world. Balance of payments accounts are divided into two groups: the current account, which records transactions in goods, services, primary income, and secondary income, and the capital and financial account, which records capital transfers, acquisition or disposal of nonproduced, nonfinancial assets, and transactions in financial assets and liabilities. The current account balance is one of the most analytically useful indicators of an external imbalance. A primary purpose of the balance of payments accounts is to indicate the need to adjust an external imbalance. Where to draw the line for analytical purposes requires a judgment concerning the imbalance that best indicates the need for adjustment. There are a number of definitions in common use for this and related analytical purposes. The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports of goods. From an analytical view it is arbitrary to distinguish goods from services. For example, a unit of foreign exchange earned by a freight company strengthens the balance of payments to the same extent as the foreign exchange earned by a goods exporter. Even so, the trade balance is useful because it is often the most timely indicator of trends in the current account balance. Customs authorities are typically able to provide data on trade in goods long before data on trade in services are available. Limitations and exceptions: Discrepancies may arise in the balance of payments because there is no single source for balance of payments data and therefore no way to ensure that the data are fully consistent. Sources include customs data, monetary accounts of the banking system, external debt records, information provided by enterprises, surveys to estimate service transactions, and foreign exchange records. Differences in collection methods - such as in timing, definitions of residence and ownership, and the exchange rate used to value transactions - contribute to net errors and omissions. In addition, smuggling and other illegal or quasi-legal transactions may be unrecorded or misrecorded. Statistical concept and methodology: The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions.
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Records
63
Source