FEDERAL RESERVE STATISTICAL RELEASE                           February 27, 1998



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

 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN FEBRUARY 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         1998         1997         1997
    COUNTRY          UNIT       February      January     December     February

 *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.6744       0.6566       0.6619       0.7677
  AUSTRIA          SCHILLING      12.735       12.765       12.510       11.785
  BELGIUM          FRANC          37.417       37.536       36.748       34.556
  CANADA           DOLLAR          1.4334       1.4409       1.4271       1.3556
  CHINA,P.R.       YUAN            8.3072       8.3094       8.3099       8.3227
  DENMARK          KRONE           6.9089       6.9190       6.7752       6.3867
 *EURO COMMUNITY   ECU             1.0893       1.0869       1.1119       1.1591
  FINLAND          MARKKA          5.4999       5.5006       5.3789       4.9792
  FRANCE           FRANC           6.0744       6.0832       5.9542       5.6536
  GERMANY          D. MARK         1.8123       1.8165       1.7788       1.6747
  GREECE           DRACHMA       286.70       287.24       279.93       262.42
  HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7412       7.7425       7.7456       7.7474
  INDIA            RUPEE          39.008       39.391       39.400       35.891
 *IRELAND          POUND           1.3771       1.3819       1.4533       1.5860
  ITALY            LIRA         1788.28      1787.87      1743.86      1655.00
  JAPAN            YEN           125.85       129.55       129.73       122.96
  MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         3.8148       4.4093       3.7907       2.4866
  MEXICO           PESO            8.5021       8.2272       8.1271       7.8023
  NETHERLANDS      GUILDER         2.0432       2.0472       2.0051       1.8812
 *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.5829       0.5793       0.5914       0.6908
  NORWAY           KRONE           7.5530       7.5007       7.2630       6.6323
  PORTUGAL         ESCUDO        185.54       185.80       181.91       168.24
  SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.6509       1.7477       1.6518       1.4193
  SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            4.9337       4.9417       4.8706       4.4557
  SOUTH KOREA      WON          1628.42      1707.30      1494.04       868.39
  SPAIN            PESETA        153.61       153.93       150.46       141.85
  SRI LANKA        RUPEE          62.363       62.281       61.591       57.772
  SWEDEN           KRONA           8.0723       8.0193       7.7977       7.4069
  SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.4631       1.4748       1.4393       1.4541
  TAIWAN           DOLLAR         32.948       34.117       32.502       27.554
  THAILAND         BAHT           45.987       52.983       44.309       25.957
 *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.6408       1.6350       1.6597       1.6256

  MEMO:
**UNITED STATES    DOLLAR         99.93       100.52        98.82        94.52
 *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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