The hard numbers

Defying market players who analyze and crunch actual data, central banks are not the most transparent of entities.

“Regarding data on official holdings of U.S. dollar reserves, hard numbers on individual countries’ holdings by currency are very difficult if not impossible to find,” Callow says. “Central banks are very sensitive about this. Imagine if China says it had slashed its U.S. dollar reserves from, say, 70 percent to 50 percent, the market would immediately reduce the value of its still massive remaining U.S. dollar reserves.”

Chinese authorities do not issue statements regarding the breakdown of their reserve assets, but market analysts estimate that roughly 70 percent of their reserves are held in U.S. dollar denominated Treasury securities, with 20 percent invested in the euro and 10 percent in other currencies.