The reserve accounts of banks with dollar deposits have increased by 78% since 2003 and so far this year the Central Bank has US$368 million in its coffers. The increase in the legally-mandated reserves has helped the Central Bank overcome the steady decrease in hard currency reserves that was observed over the past year. Without these new deposits, the required international reserves would represent about US$400,000 in the red. According to the IMF accounting terminology, the international reserves are defined as the difference between the gross international reserves and the short-term international obligations or debits. In a different interpretation from the Central Bank, however, the IMF does not include in the net reserves the obligatory legal reserves of banks with dollar accounts. This means that even if the Central Bank has the US$367.9 million available for use in its monetary policy, it cannot be used to fulfill the goals set by the IMF in case the stand by agreement goes back into effect.