Information notice on the gold and foreign exchange reserves of theSouth African Reserve Bank as at 31 July 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 July 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-July-2004(‘million)As at30-June-2004(‘million) Change(‘million)Gold reserves '1$1,550$1,569-$19Foreign exchange reserves$10,251$9,782$469Gross reserves$11,801$11,351$450Foreign loans '1-$3,494-$3,737$243Other-$3-$3$0Forward position '3$72$279-$207International liquidity position    (net reserves)$8,376$7,890$486Rand/Dollar exchange rateMarket gold price '1Statutory gold price '2R6.2450$389.38R2,189.21R6.2700$394.13R2,249.33  At the end of July 2004 the gross gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to US$11,8 billion and the net reserves to US$8,4 billion. The increase in gross and net reserves reflects normal market operations and customer transactions undertaken by the Reserve Bank during the month. Towards the end of the month, the Bank partly refinanced a maturing syndicated loan in the amount of US$1,25 billion with a new three-year syndicated term loan in the amount of US$1 billion. The repayment of US$250 million, which explains the reduction in foreign loans, was previously funded by foreign exchange purchases in the market, which were swapped to the maturity date of the loan. The reduction in the forward position reflects the utilisation of such funds to meet the repayment. _____________________________1 The gold 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.