This involves assessing the implications of valuation effects resulting from exchange rate movements on the measurement of its international use and identifying the geographic or regional character of the euro’s international use. Chart 2 shows that the euro’s share in global official foreign reserves (the currency composition of which is known) reached around 25% at the end of December 2007.
This was considerably higher than the corresponding share of the sum of all legacy currencies at the end of 1998, which accounted for about 18%. Overall, the evolution has been gradual: the share of the euro increased during the first five years following the introduction of the euro and has since remained relatively stable.