FEDERAL RESERVE STATISTICAL RELEASE                            February 2, 1998



 G.5(405)              FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES FOR THE MONTH ENDING  JANUARY 1998

 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN JANUARY 1998 TOGETHER
 WITH COMPARABLE FIGURES FOR OTHER MONTHS. AVERAGES ARE BASED ON DAILY NOON BUYING
 RATES FOR CABLE TRANSFERS IN NEW YORK CITY CERTIFIED FOR CUSTOMS PURPOSES BY
 THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK.


                                      (RATES IN CURRENCY UNITS PER DOLLAR)


                   MONETARY       1998         1997         1997         1997
    COUNTRY          UNIT        January     December     November      January

 *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.6566       0.6619       0.6953       0.7776
  AUSTRIA          SCHILLING      12.765       12.510       12.181       11.289
  BELGIUM          FRANC          37.536       36.748       35.737       33.087
  CANADA           DOLLAR          1.4409       1.4271       1.4128       1.3494
  CHINA,P.R.       YUAN            8.3094       8.3099       8.3109       8.3260
  DENMARK          KRONE           6.9190       6.7752       6.5937       6.1199
 *EURO COMMUNITY   ECU             1.0869       1.1119       1.1419       1.2096
  FINLAND          MARKKA          5.5006       5.3789       5.2217       4.7766
  FRANCE           FRANC           6.0832       5.9542       5.8001       5.4145
  GERMANY          D. MARK         1.8165       1.7788       1.7323       1.6047
  GREECE           DRACHMA       287.24       279.93       271.87       251.54
  HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7425       7.7456       7.7314       7.7397
  INDIA            RUPEE          39.391       39.400       37.289       35.904
 *IRELAND          POUND           1.3819       1.4533       1.5030       1.6311
  ITALY            LIRA         1787.87      1743.86      1697.08      1567.91
  JAPAN            YEN           129.55       129.73       125.38       117.91
  MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         4.4093       3.7907       3.3791       2.4900
  MEXICO           PESO            8.2272       8.1271       8.2716       7.8289
  NETHERLANDS      GUILDER         2.0472       2.0051       1.9524       1.8023
 *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.5793       0.5914       0.6242       0.7009
  NORWAY           KRONE           7.5007       7.2630       7.0588       6.4589
  PORTUGAL         ESCUDO        185.80       181.91       176.84       160.53
  SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.7477       1.6518       1.5820       1.4061
  SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            4.9417       4.8706       4.8394       4.6402
  SOUTH KOREA      WON          1707.30      1494.04      1035.22       854.07
  SPAIN            PESETA        153.93       150.46       146.30       134.79
  SRI LANKA        RUPEE          62.281       61.591       60.132       57.278
  SWEDEN           KRONA           8.0193       7.7977       7.5589       7.0692
  SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.4748       1.4393       1.4069       1.3913
  TAIWAN           DOLLAR         34.117       32.502       31.794       27.477
  THAILAND         BAHT           52.983       44.309       39.092       25.726
 *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.6350       1.6597       1.6889       1.6585

  MEMO:
**UNITED STATES    DOLLAR        100.52        98.82        96.37        91.01
 *VALUE IS U.S. DOLLARS
 **INDEX OF WEIGHTED AVERAGE EXCHANGE VALUE OF U.S. DOLLAR AGAINST CURRENCIES OF OTHER
 G-10 COUNTRIES.  MARCH 1973 = 100.  WEIGHTS ARE 1972-76 GLOBAL TRADE OF EACH OF THE
 10 COUNTRIES.  SERIES REVISED AS OF AUGUST 1978.  FOR  DESCRIPTION AND BACK DATA, SEE
 "INDEX OF THE WEIGHTED-AVERAGE EXCHANGE VALUE OF THE U.S. DOLLAR: REVISION" ON PAGE
 700 OF THE AUGUST 1978 FEDERAL RESERVE BULLETIN.

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