Forex reserves up $150 mn; hit $398.3 bn on rise in currency, gold holdings

Forex reserves increased by $150 million to $398.272 billion for the week to February 15 on a rise currency assets and gold holdings, the Reserve Bank said Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had surged by $2.11 billion to $398.122 billion.

The foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, increased $88.9 million to $371.07 billion for the reporting week, the RBI said.

Expressed in the greenbacks, foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and the yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

The overall reserves had touched a record high of $426.028 billion in the week to April 13, 2018. Since then, the forex kitty has been on a slide and is now down by close to $32 billion.

The value of the gold reserves increased $78.2 million to 22.764 billion, the apex bank said.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund also came down by $7.8 million to $1.455 billion. Similarly, the country's reserve position with the Fund also declined by $9.1 million to $2.982 billion, it said.