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Supporting information:

Basic information: New Zealand’s position with the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) table (E2)

The Data: Coverage, Periodicity, and Timeliness

Coverage characteristics

Data are disseminated in SDR millions. SDR (“special drawing rights”) are unconditional reserve assets that are created by the IMF to supplement existing reserve assets. The SDR is the IMF’s unit of account, and may be used for a wide range of transactions and operations. The value of the SDR is determined daily by the IMF on the basis of a weighted basket of currencies, valued against the US dollar. Further detail may be obtained from the IMF’s website: http://www.imf.org/external/

The series are published from January 1990.

Data includes the Quota for NZ currency subscription, Other, IMF holdings of NZ currency (SDR Equivalent), Reserve tranche position, Drawings outstanding reserve tranche, Special Drawing Rights position and SDR value.

Periodicity

Monthly

Timeliness

Approximately two months after reference month.

Access by the public

Advance release calendar

The “Advance Release Calendar” is updated and released each Friday on the website. This is a long-term plan of scheduled releases.

Integrity

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses

These statistics are produced by the IMF and are a record of member countries’ transactions with the Fund. The data is published in the IMF’s International Financial Statistics (“IFS”) publication. For more detail, refer to this publication, or to the web site indicated under “coverage”.

Provision of information about revisions and advance notice of major changes in methodology

Provisional data are italicised. Data are deemed provisional when a series is under review. New data, or revised data, are in bold font. Revisions are generally published when the table is next due to be updated and released. Should revisions need to be made more promptly, a note is posted on the Internet website under “Revisions to Tables”.

Any major changes in methodology will be posted on the website.

Quality

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics

See “coverage” above for more detail, or refer to the IMF’s publication “International Financial Statistics”.

Dissemination of statistics that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness

See “coverage” above, or for more detail, or refer to the IMF’s publication “International Financial Statistics”.

Additional Notes
Changes in Liquidity Management

Some Reserve Bank balance sheet, foreign currency asset and liquidity management data series disseminated monthly have recently begun to reflect changes made this year to the Bank's liquidity management policy.

As explained in the document "Reform of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's Liquidity Management Operations" a new approach to liquidity management policy is now being phased in by the Bank. Increasing liquidity needs of the banking system at a time when availability of government securities was declining, have prompted the Bank to move away from a system relying on bank holdings of government debt as the basis for generating the cash needed to facilitate interbank settlement of payments.

In February 2006 the Bank increased the level of settlement cash in the system to $2 billion to meet immediate needs. From July 2006 the level of settlement cash will be increased further over time to a likely range of $5 - $7 billion. This new liquidity management policy manifests in the Bank's balance sheet and foreign currency reserves, with larger domestic liabilities matched by larger foreign exchange assets. At present the Bank is holding foreign currency assets as the counterpart to the increased settlement cash made available to the domestic banks The foreign exchange risk on the foreign currency assets is hedged, using off-balance sheet transactions (foreign exchange swaps).

28 July 2006