International Reserves Composition

Gross Reserve Assets (Oro, divisas y colocaciones a plazo) are what the BCRA actually holds: gold, foreign currency deposits, and time deposits at foreign banks. FX Swap Liability (Pase pasivo con el exterior) represents dollars encumbered by repo or swap agreements with foreign counterparts — primarily the China swap line — which are included in the gross figure but must be returned. SDR Allocations 2009 (Asignaciones DEG 2009) are Special Drawing Rights allocated by the IMF in 2009; they count in gross reserves but represent a liability to the IMF. Reserves Excluding SDR Allocations (Reservas excluidas DEG) is the headline figure minus the SDR liability, the metric most commonly used by the IMF and Argentine economists to gauge usable reserves.