Apple announced recently that its cash coffers have swelled to a staggering $246.8 billion (£190bn). Flush with money, the tech giant now boasts a hoard greater than the foreign cash reserves of several major advanced economies, and it's not the only corporation with more spare cash than countries. Comparing IMF Forex data with the latest company quarterly results, we reveal 10 non-financial firms that eclipse actual countries when it comes to stockpiling cash.

A bone fide cash cow, Amazon has amassed cash reserves of $22 billion (£17bn). Based on its market caps, that's enough to snap up Twitter, which is worth $13.5 billion (£10.4bn), as well as Groupon and Asos, and still have plenty of money to spare. Rolling in it, Amazon's mountain of money is greater than the foreign cash reserves of...

The affluent European country holds a total of $15.7 billion (£12bn) in Forex reserves. An advanced service economy with few natural resources to exploit, Belgium's GDP hit $529.3 billion (£408bn) this year, and growth is expected to be marginally stronger in 2017 at around 1.4%.

Facebook is sitting on a cash stockpile of $29.5 billion (£22.7bn), according to the social networking firm's latest quarterly results. This pile of cash could be used to buy back shares, pay its shareholders lavish dividends, or add to its bulging portfolio of acquisitions, which number more than 50 to date. In fact, based on Forex reserves, Facebook has more cash floating around than...

The 57th largest economy in the world, Hungary is classed as an OECD high income country. The Central European nation has a GDP of $284.3 billion (£219bn) and largely relies on exports to keep its economy afloat.

Like other big pharma companies including Pfizer, Gilead has a war chest jam-packed with hard cash. The biopharmaceuticals leviathan reported a glut of $34 billion (£26bn) in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at the end of the first quarter of 2017, and rumors suggest Gilead may use some of the cash to buy rival firm Incyte. Gilead's cash pile is greater than the Forex reserves of...

The wealthy Middle Eastern nation is dependent on oil and the commodity makes up 60% of the country's GDP of $166.9 billion (£128.7bn) and 85% of its export earnings. While low oil prices have dented some of its wealth, the country still enjoys one of the world's highest GDP per capita rates.

Healthcare products colossus Johnson & Johnson has more than $40 billion (£30.1bn) in cash reserves, $30 billion (£23bn) of which it is using to purchase Swiss pharmaceuticals and biotechnology firm Actelion, the largest acquisition in J&J's 130-year history. That stockpile is greater than the Forex reserves held by...

The European Union member is described as an upper-middle economy and ranks as the 41th richest country in the world. Romania's GDP of $197 billion (£152bn) is the 16th largest in the European Union and its growth rate is a very healthy 5.6%.

Tech multinational Oracle has more than enough cash to go on one almighty spending spree. The California-based company reported cash reserves of $59.4 billion (£45.8bn) in its most recent quarterly financial report. Like many of the firms in our round-up, Oracle stashes away the bulk of its spare money in overseas bank accounts. All in all, its total cash holdings exceed the Forex reserves of....

An advanced high-income economy, Spain has a GDP in the trillions, making it one of the richest countries in the world. Languishing in recession for a number of years following the financial crisis of 2007-2008, the Spanish economy has since bounced back and is currently experiencing robust growth.

Another tech company with more cash than it knows what to do with, Cisco Systems has a very respectable $71.8 billion (£55.2bn) in the bank, $60 billion (£46bn) of which is squirreled away abroad. In January, Cisco used some of its spare cash to acquire $3.7 billion (£2.9bn) app performance firm AppDynamics, and the company paid its first dividend in March. In total, Cisco's cash hoard is greater than the Forex cash reserves of...

The powerhouse Eurozone economy has Forex reserves of $59.6 billion (£45.9bn) and boasts the fourth-largest GDP in the world, topping $3.5 trillion (£2.7trn) in 2016. The world's foremost capital exporter, Germany racked up the highest trade surplus in the world in 2016, worth $310 billion (£238.7bn).

Google's parent firm Alphabet has cash reserves totaling $92 billion (£70.8bn) and the company is spending some of the money on mergers and acquisitions. Recent purchases include virtual reality studio Owlchemy Labs and Kaggle, a major data science platform. All things considered, Alphabet is sitting on a stockpile of cash that surpasses the Forex reserves of...

The economy of Canada is based on services, but the logging and oil industries, particularly shale oil, are also important. Growth is rather low at present on account of the low price of oil, but Canada's GDP of $1.75 trillion (£1.35trn) remains one of the highest in the world.

Investment guru Warren Buffett's outrageously successful firm has an eye-watering $96.5 billion (£74.3bn) stashed away for a rainy day. Unusually for an American company, Berkshire Hathaway holds the majority of its cash reserves in the USA. The firm's hoard of money is greater than the Forex reserves of...

The third richest country in south-east Asia, Malaysia has a GDP of $815.6 billion (£628.1bn). Regarded as a newly industrialized market economy, Malaysia is one of the world's leading manufacturers of tech products.

Microsoft currently has $126 billion (£97.1bn) of hard cash to play with. An incredible sum of money, the stockpile is enough to buy Neflix with its market cap of $41.9 billion (£32.3bn), with Uber, TripAdvisor and Zalando thrown in too. Astonishingly, Microsoft's cash reserves exceed the Forex reserves of...

Generating a GDP of $18.56 trillion (£14.3trn) last year – 22% of the world total – the USA is the world's leading economy by a very long shot, outpacing other countries, and then some. Yet its Forex reserves stand at a relatively modest $107.8 billion (£83bn).

The world's most cash-rich company, Apple has stockpiled an eye-popping $265.8 billion (£197.9bn) in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, 93% of which is held outside the US. That's more than enough money to reward its shareholders with bumper dividends or buy Airbnb, eBay, Yahoo, you name it. In total, Apple's cash mountain is greater than the Forex reserves of...

Yes, Apple has more spare cash than the Forex quantities held by three of the world's most powerful economies: the UK, which amount to $129.5 billion (£99.8bn); Australia, which total $57.9 billion (£44.6bn); and France, which are equivalent to $54.4 billion (£41.9bn).