1.   The government has exhausted almost all its foreign currency reserves.

2.   The restrictions were initially adopted as a temporary measure designed to slow down the flight of foreign currency reserves from the country.

3.   Among countries around the world, there are many who hold their foreign currency reserves in the form of U.S. Treasury bonds.

4.   An IMF loan could help Brazil replenish its foreign currency reserves in case it has to use them to strengthen the real.

5.   An ideal level of foreign currency reserves would be enough to cover three to four months worth of imports, Altay said.

6.   And where South Korea has nearly depleted the foreign currency reserves it needs to pay its debts, Japan is a nation that saves money.

7.   At the same time, foreign currency reserves have been declining.

8.   But in time, they could also win back foreign capital, spurring the economy and raising the currency reserves the nations need to pay their overseas debts.

9.   But the bank officials said that they were willing to support the banks, pointing to the burgeoning foreign currency reserves as the key tool.

10.   But what troubles Khandruyev most are indications that the bank was not just playing the GKO market, but pumping it up with the help of national currency reserves.