G.5(405)                                                          March 1, 2001



 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN FEBRUARY 2001 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       2001         2001         2000         2000
   COUNTRY           UNIT       February      January     December     February

 *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.5338       0.5552       0.5466       0.6278
  BRAZIL           REAL            2.0060       1.9561       1.9632       1.7765
  CANADA           DOLLAR          1.5216       1.5032       1.5219       1.4512
  CHINA, P.R.      YUAN            8.2771       8.2776       8.2771       8.2781
  DENMARK          KRONE           8.1103       7.9629       8.3059       7.5725
 *EMU MEMBERS      EURO            0.9205       0.9376       0.8983       0.9834
  GREECE           DRACHMA         N.A.         N.A.       379.58       338.87
  HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7999       7.7998       7.7991       7.7816
  INDIA            RUPEE          46.56        46.61        46.78        43.65
  JAPAN            YEN           116.23       116.67       112.21       109.39
  MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         3.8000       3.8000       3.8000       3.8000
  MEXICO           PESO            9.711        9.769        9.467        9.427
 *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.4345       0.4442       0.4297       0.4903
  NORWAY           KRONE           8.9180       8.7817       9.0616       8.2374
  SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.7435       1.7380       1.7361       1.7028
  SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            7.8214       7.7786       7.6439       6.3209
  SOUTH KOREA      WON          1252.85      1272.63      1216.94      1129.75
  SRI LANKA        RUPEE          87.136       85.833       82.030       73.552
  SWEDEN           KRONA           9.7518       9.4910       9.6604       8.6480
  SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.6686       1.6305       1.6855       1.6348
  TAIWAN           DOLLAR         32.330       32.721       33.123       30.806
  THAILAND         BAHT           42.665       43.149       43.246       37.759
 *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.4525       1.4775       1.4629       1.6000
  VENEZUELA        BOLIVAR       703.36       700.02       698.85       659.44

  MEMO:
  UNITED STATES    DOLLAR
1)BROAD            JAN97=100     123.77       123.15       123.28       117.44
2)MAJOR CURRENCY   MAR73=100     101.44       100.24       101.26        95.31
3)OITP             JAN97=100     134.52       135.02       133.61       129.11


 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/). Weights for the 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 (OITIP) index are derived from the broad index
 weights. The most recent annual revision to the trade weights and the dollar indexes took effect
 with the February 1, 2001, release of this report.

 *  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.

 The euro is reported in place of the individual eure-area currencies. These currency rates
 can be derived from the dollar/euro rate by using the fixed conversion rates (in currencies
 per euro) given below:

        1 EURO  =  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
                =  340.750  GREEK DRACHMAS