The official site of Italy's central bank

The national reserves

The Bank of Italy manages the country's reserves in foreign currency and gold.

One of the main reasons for maintaining national reserves is to provide additional foreign reserves to the ECB, which it may ask the NCBs to do in given circumstances set out in the ESCB Statute. The Bank of Italy also uses the national reserves to make payments on behalf of the Treasury in connection with the foreign currency-denominated debt (avoiding any impact on the foreign exchange market) and to fulfil its obligations towards international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund. Finally, national reserves play an important role in building up and maintaining the Eurosystem’s credibility.

The profit from the management of the official reserves constitutes a major item in the Bank’s income statement and ensures the soundness of its balance sheet.

The main objectives of reserve management are to preserve their capital value and their liquidity. Moreover, because they are an important component of the Bank’s assets, reserves are managed to obtain the maximum return for an acceptable level of risk.

Management of the official reserves – like the provisions governing the investment of the euro portfolio – cannot be used for the monetary financing of budget deficits according to Article 101 of the Treaty. Consequently, primary market purchases of securities issued by member states and Community bodies and institutions are prohibited, while purchases on the secondary market are subject to monitoring thresholds.

A table with updated figures on the amount and currency composition of foreign reserves can be downloaded through the link provided below.

• Composition of reserves pdf 25 kB