G.5A(405)                                                       January 8, 2001





               THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN 2000 TOGETHER
               WITH COMPARABLE FIGURES FOR OTHER YEARS. 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
                  COUNTRY          UNIT         2000         1999         1998         1997

               *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.5815       0.6454       0.6291       0.7437
                BRAZIL           REAL            1.8301       1.8207       1.1605       1.0779
                CANADA           DOLLAR          1.4855       1.4858       1.4836       1.3849
                CHINA,P.R.       YUAN            8.2784       8.2783       8.3008       8.3193
                DENMARK          KRONE           8.0953       6.9900       6.7030       6.6092
               *EMU MEMBERS      EURO            0.9232       1.0653       N.A.         N.A.
                GREECE           DRACHMA       365.92       306.30       295.70       273.28
                HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7924       7.7594       7.7467       7.7431
                INDIA            RUPEE          45.00        43.13        41.36        36.36
                JAPAN            YEN           107.80       113.73       130.99       121.06
                MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         3.8000       3.8000       3.9254       2.8173
                MEXICO           PESO            9.459        9.553        9.152        7.918
               *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.4568       0.5294       0.5361       0.6625
                NORWAY           KRONE           8.8131       7.8071       7.5521       7.0857
                SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.7250       1.6951       1.6722       1.4857
                SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            6.9468       6.1191       5.5417       4.6072
                SOUTH KOREA      WON          1130.90      1189.84      1400.40       947.65
                SRI LANKA        RUPEE          76.964       70.868       65.005       59.026
                SWEDEN           KRONA           9.1735       8.2740       7.9522       7.6446
                SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.6904       1.5045       1.4506       1.4514
                TAIWAN           DOLLAR         31.260       32.322       33.547       28.775
                THAILAND         BAHT           40.210       37.887       41.262       31.072
               *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.5156       1.6172       1.6573       1.6376
                VENEZUELA        BOLIVAR       680.52       606.82       548.39       488.87

                MEMO:
                UNITED STATES    DOLLAR
              1)BROAD            JAN97=100     120.30       116.87       116.48       104.44
              2)MAJOR CURRENCY   MAR73=100      98.40        94.06        95.79        91.24
              3)OITP             JAN97=100     130.97       129.94       126.03       104.67

               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/releases/
               H10/Weights; weights for the major currencies index and the other important trading partners
               (OITP) index are derived from the broad index weights.

               *  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 the January 3, 2000 release, the euro is reported in place of the individual euro-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