Central-Bank Euro Holdings Lowest in More Than 5 Years, IMF Says

The euro’s share of global foreign- exchange reserves fell from January through March to the lowest level since the third quarter of 2006, International Monetary Fund data show.

The shared currency’s percentage declined to 24.95 percent, from 25.03 percent in the previous three months, according to the quarterly data. The dollar’s portion of official reserves shrank to 62.2 percent in the first quarter, from 62.22 percent in fourth-quarter 2011. Sterling had the biggest gain, climbing to 4 percent, from 3.83 percent at the end of 2011, the most since the second quarter of 2011.

The yen’s share was 3.55 percent in the first quarter, an increase from 3.53 percent from the previous three months, and central banks increased their holdings of Swiss francs by 0.01 percentage point to 0.12 percent.

The category of “other currencies” shrank for the first quarter since the start of 2009, to 5.17 percent, according to the data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Allison Bennett in New York at abennett23@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net