WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico and China saw a modest increase in foreign exchange reserves, whereas Russia suffered a steep decline.
Foreign exchange reserves are used to measure confidence in a country's economy and to compare its economy to others. Reserves are usually controlled by central banks and commonly measured in U.S. dollars.
Emerging markets did not perform as well in comparison to previous years due to Japan entering a recession, Europe almost entering one and China's economic slowdown -- all markets which trade heavily with emerging markets.
An emerging market is a country that shares characteristics of developed markets, such as the United States and Japan, but has not met the criteria to be classified as developed, which include income per capita, gross domestic product and the Human Development Index, a comprehensive method used by the United Nations of gauging a population's standard of living.
Brazil's foreign exchange reserves increased 2.76 percent to $375.4 billion in November 2014 from $365.3 billion the previous year, a small amount when compared to the 18 percent increase from 2010 to 2011. In August 2014, Brazil's reserves reached an all-time high of $379.2 billion.
Russia's reserves, however, decreased. As of November 2014, the country held $418.9 billion in its international reserve, an 18.75 percent decrease from $515.6 billion the previous year.
China, the largest emerging market, experienced a 5.90 percent increase from $3.73 trillion in 2013 to $3.95 trillion in 2014.
India's reserves rose from $298.10 billion in 2013 to $315.56 billion, showing a 5.86 percent increase.
Mexico's 2014 reserves of $193.45 billion showed a 9.34 increase from $176.93 billion in 2013.
South Africa underwent a decrease of 2.07 percent from 2013, ending with reserves of $48.68 billion, down from $49.71 billion in 2013.
The success of the U.S. dollar also hurt emerging markets that have debt in dollars. Countries would need more of their own currency to pay for that debt.
(Data also from the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank)
