Japan's foreign
reserves dropped 19.69 billion dollars in January from the month before but
remained above 1 trillion dollars, the Finance Ministry said Friday, dpa reported.
The reserves fell to 1.01 trillion dollars at the end of
January because of declines in US Treasury bond prices and the appraisal value
of Japan's euro-dominated assets, the ministry said.
Japan had 890.77 billion dollars in foreign securities as of
January 31, down from 908.02 billion dollars a month earlier.
Foreign currency deposits came to 91.68 billion dollars.
Japan held 6.37 billion dollars of those deposits in foreign
central banks and the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements, 21.16
billion dollars in Japanese banks and 64.16 billion dollars in foreign
financial institutions.
Gold reserves came to 22.62 billion dollars.
Japan had 2.58 billion dollars in IMF reserve positions and
2.94 billion dollars in IMF special drawing rights.
Other reserve assets came to 366 million dollars.
Japan's foreign exchange reserves consist mainly of
securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies, gold, and reserve
positions and special drawing rights at the International Monetary Fund.