FRANKFURT (MNI) – The international role played by the euro
remained stable throughout last year, the results of a new study from
the European Central Bank revealed Wednesday.
“Despite the profound impact of the global financial crisis on
overall financial market activity, the relative use of the euro and
other major international currencies was broadly unchanged over the
review period,” the ECB wrote in a press statement summarizing its
“Review of the International Use of the Euro.”
“Between end-2008 and end-2009, the share of euro-denominated
instruments increased by around half a percentage point in global
reserve holdings” while remaining virtually unchanged in foreign
exchange transactions and in total cross-border deposits, the ECB said.
The share of euro-denominated instruments “declined by 1.3
percentage points in the outstanding amount of international debt
securities (narrow measure) and by 1.6 percentage points in the
outstanding amount of cross-border loans,” the bank added.
“Changes of that order of magnitude are fully in line with normal
fluctuations observed in the years prior to the global economic and
financial crisis,” the bank said.
–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69-720142; frankfurt@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$$FX$,M$$EC$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MGX$$$]
