Information notice on the gold and foreign exchange reserves of theSouth African Reserve Bank as at 31 May 2004 This notice provides details of the US dollar equivalent of the level of the Reserve Bank’s gold and foreign exchange reserves as at 31 May 2004 published today in the Bank’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The notice also provides details of the level of outstanding foreign loans and any foreign exchange forward position.  As at31-May-2004         (‘million)As at30-Apr-2004(‘million) Change(‘million)Gold reserves '1$1,574$1,541$33Foreign exchange reserves$8,898$8,602$296Gross reserves$10,472$10,143$329Foreign loans-$3,747-$3,737-$10Other-$3-$3$0Forward position '3$1,293$11$1,282International liquidity position    (net reserves)$8,015$6,414$1,601Rand/Dollar exchange rateMarket gold price '1Statutory gold price '2R6.5000$395.50R2,279.54R6.8550$387.375R2,421.19  At the end of May 2004 the gross gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to US$10,5 billion and the net reserves to US$8,0 billion. The increase in the level of gross and net reserves during the month of May reflects market operations and customer transactions. The increase in the forward position is mainly attributable to the purchase of the proceeds of the recent US$1 billion international bond issue by the Republic of South Africa at month end, which was settled on 2 June 2004. An element of these proceeds will be used to repay loans falling due with the balance being added to reserves. _____________________________1             The gold reserves in US dollar terms are reflected at middle market rates while in rand terms for balance sheet reporting the gold holdings are reflected at the statutory price. For reporting purposes all foreign currency figures have been converted to US dollar at middle market rates at month end.2             The statutory gold price is the average of the last 10 London gold price fixings less 10%.3     The forward position is made up of unsettled foreign currency spot, forward and swap transactions. ​