TABLE 6.15
                        Foreign Exchange Reserves*: Historical
                                     Perspective
                                                             (US$ million)
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  Years	          Foreign  	  Import	    Current  
	          Exchange	  Cover	            Payments 
	          Reserves#	                    Cover@     
                              (No of Months)&    (No of Months)&
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 1950-51	   1914	           16.8	             14.6
 1955-56	   1648	           12.2	             10.6
 1960-61	    390	            2.0	              1.7
 1965-66	    383	            1.6	              1.3
 1970-71	    584	            2.9	              2.2
 1975-76	   1657	            3.2	              2.8
 1980-81	   5850	            4.3	              3.8
 1985-86	   5972	            4.1	              3.5
 1990-91	   2236	            1.0	              0.8
 1991-92	   5631	            3.2	              2.3
 1992-93	   6434	            3.3	              2.5
 1993-94	  15068	            7.2	              5.4
 1994-95	  20809	            7.8	              5.8
 1995-96	  17044	            4.9	              3.8
 1996-97!	  19847	            5.5	              4.0
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	*	Excluding gold and SDRs.
	#	Year-end level.
	&	Based on foreign exchange reserves of respective
                year-end levels.
	@	Current payments represent sum of merchandise
                imports and invisibles payments.
	!	Reserve level at end-January, 1997.
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From the database of Ministry of Finance disseminated on Internet through NICNET