G.5(405)                                                      December 29, 2000



 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN DECEMBER 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       December     November      October     December

 *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.5466       0.5218       0.5280       0.6410
  BRAZIL           REAL            1.9632       1.9483       1.8813       1.8442
  CANADA           DOLLAR          1.5219       1.5426       1.5125       1.4722
  CHINA, P.R.      YUAN            8.2771       8.2774       8.2785       8.2794
  DENMARK          KRONE           8.3059       8.6992       8.7276       7.3597
 *EMU MEMBERS      EURO            0.8983       0.8552       0.8525       1.0110
  GREECE           DRACHMA       379.58       397.94       398.29       326.19
  HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7991       7.7991       7.7977       7.7728
  INDIA            RUPEE          46.78        46.82        46.43        43.52
  JAPAN            YEN           112.21       109.01       108.44       102.58
  MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         3.8000       3.8000       3.8000       3.8000
  MEXICO           PESO            9.467        9.508        9.537        9.427
 *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.4297       0.3990       0.4001       0.5087
  NORWAY           KRONE           9.0616       9.3524       9.3794       8.0113
  SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.7361       1.7478       1.7525       1.6745
  SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            7.6439       7.6889       7.4902       6.1503
  SOUTH KOREA      WON          1216.94      1156.54      1131.10      1136.80
  SRI LANKA        RUPEE          82.030       80.380       79.291       72.018
  SWEDEN           KRONA           9.6604      10.0965       9.9930       8.4910
  SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.6855       1.7779       1.7745       1.5841
  TAIWAN           DOLLAR         33.123       32.433       31.846       31.625
  THAILAND         BAHT           43.246       43.791       43.334       38.227
 *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.4629       1.4258       1.4506       1.6132
  VENEZUELA        BOLIVAR       698.85       695.77       692.86       644.28

  MEMO:
  UNITED STATES    DOLLAR
1)BROAD            JAN97=100     123.80       124.76       123.83       116.09
2)MAJOR CURRENCY   MAR73=100     101.37       103.18       102.35        93.23
3)OITP             JAN97=100     134.59       133.92       133.03       129.34


 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