G.5(405) May 28, 1999 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN MAY 1999 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 1999 1999 1999 1998 COUNTRY UNIT May April March May *AUSTRALIA DOLLAR 0.6628 0.6420 0.6308 0.6312 AUSTRIA SCHILLING N.A. N.A. N.A. 12.491 BELGIUM FRANC N.A. N.A. N.A. 36.62 BRAZIL REAL 1.6853 1.7025 1.9057 1.1475 CANADA DOLLAR 1.4611 1.4881 1.5176 1.4452 CHINA, P.R. YUAN 8.2785 8.2792 8.2792 8.3084 DENMARK KRONE 6.9925 6.9475 6.8287 6.7662 *EMU MEMBERS EURO 1.0630 1.0701 1.0886 N.A. *EURO COMMUNITY ECU N.A. N.A. N.A. 1.1096 FINLAND MARKKA N.A. N.A. N.A. 5.3966 FRANCE FRANC N.A. N.A. N.A. 5.9528 GERMANY D. MARK N.A. N.A. N.A. 1.7753 GREECE DRACHMA 305.96 304.26 296.36 307.22 HONG KONG DOLLAR 7.7531 7.7495 7.7493 7.7490 INDIA RUPEE 42.86 42.80 42.52 40.47 *IRELAND POUND N.A. N.A. N.A. 1.4174 ITALY LIRA N.A. N.A. N.A. 1750.79 JAPAN YEN 122.00 119.77 119.47 134.90 MALAYSIA RINGGIT 3.8000 3.8000 3.8000 3.8204 MEXICO PESO 9.395 9.430 9.732 8.585 NETHERLANDS GUILDER N.A. N.A. N.A. 2.0005 *NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 0.5530 0.5427 0.5345 0.5388 NORWAY KRONE 7.7496 7.7750 7.8151 7.4539 PORTUGAL ESCUDO N.A. N.A. N.A. 181.87 SINGAPORE DOLLAR 1.7122 1.7134 1.7292 1.6374 SOUTH AFRICA RAND 6.1809 6.1186 6.2136 5.0927 SOUTH KOREA WON 1197.92 1209.96 1229.72 1399.05 SPAIN PESETA N.A. N.A. N.A. 150.81 SRI LANKA RUPEE 70.581 69.588 69.570 64.261 SWEDEN KRONA 8.4432 8.3293 8.2144 7.7026 SWITZERLAND FRANC 1.5078 1.4971 1.4660 1.4790 TAIWAN DOLLAR 32.791 32.965 33.165 33.466 THAILAND BAHT 37.051 37.631 37.557 39.198 *UNITED KINGDOM POUND 1.6154 1.6089 1.6213 1.6382 VENEZUELA BOLIVAR 596.48 587.79 580.06 537.26 MEMO: UNITED STATES DOLLAR 1)BROAD JAN97=100 116.91 117.15 117.80 115.16 2)MAJOR CURRENCY MAR73=100 95.79 95.76 95.69 96.88 3)OITP JAN97=100 128.55 129.24 131.03 122.28 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. For information about your subscription to this release or about receiving it in document form, please call publication services at Federal Reserve Board at (202) 452-3244. As of January 1, 1999, the euro is reported in place of the individual eure-area currencies. These currency rates can be derived from the euro rate by using the fixed conversion rates (in currencies per euro) given below: 1 EUR = 13.7603 AUSTRIAN SCHILLINGS = 40.3399 BELGIAN FRANCS = 5.94573 FINNISH MARKKAS = 6.55957 FRENCH FRANCS = 1.95583 GERMAN MARKS = .787564 IRISH POUNDS = 1936.27 ITALIAN LIRE = 40.3399 LUXEMBOURG FRANCS = 2.20371 NETHERLANDS GUILDERS = 200.482 PORTUGUESE ESCUDOS = 166.386 SPANISH PESETAS