G.5(405)                                                      September 1, 2000



 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN AUGUST 2000 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.


                                (Currency units per U.S. dollar except as noted)


                   MONETARY       2000         2000         2000         1999
   COUNTRY           UNIT        August        July         June        August

 *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.5808       0.5870       0.5949       0.6446
  BRAZIL           REAL            1.8091       1.7982       1.8099       1.8859
  CANADA           DOLLAR          1.4828       1.4778       1.4770       1.4932
  CHINA, P.R.      YUAN            8.2796       8.2794       8.2772       8.2772
  DENMARK          KRONE           8.2459       7.9471       7.8501       7.0144
 *EMU MEMBERS      EURO            0.9045       0.9386       0.9505       1.0605
  GREECE           DRACHMA       372.97       359.04       354.14       307.84
  HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7995       7.7969       7.7934       7.7638
  INDIA            RUPEE          45.77        44.84        44.76        43.50
  JAPAN            YEN           108.08       108.21       106.13       113.23
  MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         3.8000       3.8000       3.8000       3.8000
  MEXICO           PESO            9.272        9.419        9.834        9.398
 *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.4452       0.4597       0.4705       0.5259
  NORWAY           KRONE           8.9526       8.7185       8.6807       7.8036
  SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.7206       1.7414       1.7277       1.6787
  SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            6.9570       6.8971       6.9147       6.1302
  SOUTH KOREA      WON          1114.47      1115.08      1117.94      1198.31
  SRI LANKA        RUPEE          78.283       78.852       76.736       71.868
  SWEDEN           KRONA           9.2771       8.9640       8.7471       8.2589
  SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.7149       1.6519       1.6420       1.5093
  TAIWAN           DOLLAR         31.106       30.984       30.830       32.076
  THAILAND         BAHT           40.889       40.318       39.087       38.060
 *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.4889       1.5076       1.5092       1.6058
  VENEZUELA        BOLIVAR       689.17       685.86       680.96       615.95

  MEMO:
  UNITED STATES    DOLLAR
1)BROAD            JAN97=100     120.64       119.86       119.43       117.00
2)MAJOR CURRENCY   MAR73=100      99.16        97.68        96.74        94.31
3)OITP             JAN97=100     130.51       131.08       131.62       129.73


 This release is available online at http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G5.

 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/releases/
 H10/Weights; weights for the major currencies index and the other important trading partners
 (OITP) index are derived from the broad index weights.  The most recent annual revision to the
 trade weights has produced revised index values that appear in the dollar indexes starting
 with the December 1, 1999, release.

 *  U.S. dollars per currency unit.
 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