Forex reserves fall by $12 bn to $499 bn; rupee hits all-time low: RBI data

The country's foreign exchange reserves fell by a whopping $11.98 billion to $469.909 billion in the week to March 20 as the Reserve Bank continued to supply dollars into the market to stem fall in the rupee.

The rupee hit an all-time low of 76.15 against the US dollar on March 23 as foreign investors continued to withdraw money from domestic equity and debt market amid uncertainties due to the fast-spreading coronavirus.

In the previous week, the country's foreign exchange reserves fell by $5.346 billion to $481.89 billion. This was the first decline in the country's reserve in almost six months.

The reserves had touched a life-time high of $487.23 billion in the week to March 6, after it rose by $5.69 billion.

During the week to March 20, the foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of theoverall reserves, declined by $10.256 billion to $437.102 billion.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assetsinclude the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-USunits like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreignexchange reserves.

The gold reserve, which was rising for the past many weeks, decreased by $1.610 billion to $27.856 billion in the week under review, the RBI data showed.

The special drawing rights with the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) were down by $40 million to $1.409 billion.

The country's reserve position with the IMF dipped by $77 million to $3.542 billion, the data showed.