External Reserves
External Reserves, (also called International Reserves, Foreign Reserves or Foreign Exchange Reserves) are defined by the IMF in its Balance of Payments Manual, 5th edition (BPM5) as "those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for direct financing of payments imbalances, for indirectly regulating the magnitudes of such imbalances through intervention in exchange markets to affect the currency exchange rate, and/or for other purposes."