G.5A(405)                                                       January 3, 2000





               THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN 1999 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.


                                                    (RATES IN CURRENCY UNITS PER DOLLAR)


                                 MONETARY
                  COUNTRY          UNIT         1999         1998         1997         1996

               *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.6454       0.6291       0.7437       0.7828
                AUSTRIA          SCHILLING       N.A.        12.379       12.206       10.589
                BELGIUM          FRANC           N.A.        36.31        35.81        30.97
                BRAZIL           REAL            1.8207       1.1605       1.0779       1.0051
                CANADA           DOLLAR          1.4858       1.4836       1.3849       1.3638
                CHINA,P.R.       YUAN            8.2781       8.3008       8.3193       8.3389
                DENMARK          KRONE           6.9900       6.7030       6.6092       5.8003
               *EMU MEMBERS      EURO            1.0653       N.A.         N.A.         N.A.
               *EURO COMMUNITY   ECU             N.A.         1.1224       1.1300       1.2520
                FINLAND          MARKKA          N.A.         5.3473       5.1956       4.5948
                FRANCE           FRANC           N.A.         5.8995       5.8393       5.1158
                GERMANY          D. MARK         N.A.         1.7597       1.7348       1.5049
                GREECE           DRACHMA       306.30       295.70       273.28       240.82
                HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7594       7.7467       7.7431       7.7345
                INDIA            RUPEE          43.13        41.36        36.36        35.51
               *IRELAND          POUND           N.A.         1.4248       1.5163       1.5995
                ITALY            LIRA            N.A.      1736.85      1703.81      1542.76
                JAPAN            YEN           113.73       130.99       121.06       108.78
                MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         3.8000       3.9254       2.8173       2.5154
                MEXICO           PESO            9.553        9.152        7.918        7.600
                NETHERLANDS      GUILDER         N.A.         1.9837       1.9525       1.6863
               *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.5294       0.5361       0.6625       0.6877
                NORWAY           KRONE           7.8071       7.5521       7.0857       6.4594
                PORTUGAL         ESCUDO          N.A.       180.25       175.44       154.28
                SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.6951       1.6722       1.4857       1.4100
                SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            6.1191       5.5417       4.6072       4.3011
                SOUTH KOREA      WON          1189.84      1400.40       947.65       805.00
                SPAIN            PESETA          N.A.       149.41       146.53       126.68
                SRI LANKA        RUPEE          70.868       65.005       59.026       55.289
                SWEDEN           KRONA           8.2740       7.9522       7.6446       6.7082
                SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.5045       1.4506       1.4514       1.2361
                TAIWAN           DOLLAR         32.322       33.547       28.775       27.468
                THAILAND         BAHT           37.887       41.262       31.072       25.359
               *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.6172       1.6573       1.6376       1.5607
                VENEZUELA        BOLIVAR       606.82       548.39       488.39       417.19

                MEMO:
                UNITED STATES    DOLLAR
              1)BROAD            JAN97=100     116.87       116.48       104.44        97.40
              2)MAJOR CURRENCY   MAR73=100      94.06        95.79        91.24        84.60
              3)OITP             JAN97=100     129.94       126.03       104.67        98.26

               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.

               *  Value is U.S. dollars.
               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

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