Central bank equity: facts and analytics

Abstract

How much capital should the central bank of a country hold? There is no consensus on this matter. We review the balance sheets of 45 central banks from around the world to describe actual practices. The principal findings are: (a) the average capitalasset ratio of central banks globally (net of revaluation capital which is purely an accounting entry) is 6.56 percent while the number in emerging economies is 6.96 percent; and (b) our Value-at-Risk estimates for the RBI excluding exchange rate risk indicate that the current level of the core capital of the RBI as mandated by the Jalan committee may be too low. We also discuss the policy moral hazards associated with mandating RBI equity payouts to the government.