G.5(405)                                                      December 31, 1998



 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN DECEMBER 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         1998         1997
   COUNTRY           UNIT       December     November      October     December

 *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.6182       0.6349       0.6179       0.6619
  AUSTRIA          SCHILLING      11.746       11.840       11.524       12.510
  BELGIUM          FRANC          34.44        34.71        33.81        36.75
  BRAZIL           REAL            1.2052       1.1932       1.1889       1.1136
  CANADA           DOLLAR          1.5433       1.5404       1.5452       1.4271
  CHINA,P.R.       YUAN            8.2780       8.2778       8.2778       8.3099
  DENMARK          KRONE           6.3531       6.3960       6.2294       6.7752
 *EURO COMMUNITY   ECU             1.1756       1.1681       1.2019       1.1119
  FINLAND          MARKKA          5.0769       5.1163       4.9845       5.3789
  FRANCE           FRANC           5.5981       5.6422       5.4925       5.9542
  GERMANY          D. MARK         1.6698       1.6827       1.6381       1.7788
  GREECE           DRACHMA       280.43       282.64       281.64       279.93
  HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7471       7.7432       7.7483       7.7456
  INDIA            RUPEE          42.59        42.43        42.39        39.40
 *IRELAND          POUND           1.4876       1.4777       1.5221       1.4533
  ITALY            LIRA         1653.23      1664.91      1620.96      1743.86
  JAPAN            YEN           117.07       120.29       121.05       129.73
  MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         3.8014       3.8000       3.8000       3.7907
  MEXICO           PESO            9.907        9.968       10.159        8.127
  NETHERLANDS      GUILDER         1.8816       1.8969       1.8479       2.0051
 *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.5223       0.5340       0.5213       0.5914
  NORWAY           KRONE           7.6050       7.4562       7.4294       7.2630
  PORTUGAL         ESCUDO        171.19       172.52       168.01       181.91
  SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.6515       1.6378       1.6378       1.6518
  SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            5.9030       5.6511       5.7991       4.8706
  SOUTH KOREA      WON          1213.22      1294.01      1344.14      1494.04
  SPAIN            PESETA        142.08       143.05       139.23       150.46
  SRI LANKA        RUPEE          68.117       67.578       66.345       61.591
  SWEDEN           KRONA           8.0716       8.0140       7.8395       7.7977
  SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.3604       1.3852       1.3373       1.4393
  TAIWAN           DOLLAR         32.337       32.603       33.121       32.502
  THAILAND         BAHT           36.276       36.527       38.118       44.309
 *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.6708       1.6611       1.6944       1.6597
  VENEZUELA        BOLIVAR       565.89       569.66       570.68       502.99

  MEMO:
  UNITED STATES    DOLLAR
1)BROAD            JAN97=100     114.56       115.34       115.46       112.60
2)MAJOR CURRENCY   MAR73=100      93.40        94.23        93.46        95.26
3)OITP             JAN97=100     126.80       127.31       129.02       118.69
4)G-10             MAR73=100      94.61        95.46        93.69        98.82

 This release is available online at http://www.federalreserve.gov/release/.

 For more information on exchange rate indexes for the U.S. dollar, see "New Summary Measures
 of the Foreign Exchange Value of the Dollar," Federal Reserve Bulletin, vol. 84 (October 1998),
 pp. 811-18 (http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/) and "Index of the Weighted-Average
 Exchange Value of the U.S. Dollar: Revision," Federal Reserve Bulletin, vol. 64 (August 1978),
 p. 700. Weights for broad index can be found at http://www.federalreserve.gov/; weights for
 the major currencies index and the other important trading partners (OITP) index are derived
 from the broad index weights.

 *  Value is U.S. dollars.
 1) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against the currencies
 of a broad group of major U.S. trading partners.
 2) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against a subset of
 the broad index currencies that circulate widely outside the country of issue.
 3) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against a subset of
 the broad index currencies that do not circulate widely outside the country of issue.
 4) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against the currencies
 of the other G-10 countries. We will discontinue publication of this series after December 1998.

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 please call publication services at Federal Reserve Board at (202) 452-3244.