Forex reserves at record high, sniff at $360 billion

The foreign exchange reserves touched a new life-time high of $359.917 billion after they surged by $157.4 million in the week ended April 8, helped by rise in foreign currency assets, the Reserve Bank said today.

In the previous week, reserves had increased by a whopping $4.2 billion to touch $359.759 billion.

Foreign currency assets which constitute a major component of the overall reserves rose by $159.3 million to $335.845 billion in the week under review, RBI said in a release.

Foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation and depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and the yen held in the reserves.

Gold reserves, however, remained unchanged at $20.115 billion.

The massive rise in the forex kitty comes even as the country's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund declined by $0.9 million to $1.501 billion and the reserve position dipped by $1 million to $2.455 billion.