Forex reserves plunge by $4.67 bn

The country's foreign exchange reserves fell by a whopping $4.67 billion to $302.1 billion in the week ending December 16 on the back of a dip in foreign currency assets, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said here today.

Foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, were down $4.668 billion to $266.968 billion for the reporting week, the RBI said in its weekly data released this evening.

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

The gold reserves remained unchanged at $28.041 billion, the apex bank said.

The country's special drawing rights (SDRs) were down $54 million to $4.439 billion while the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund went up by $47 million to $2.652 billion, the data said.

The total foreign exchange reserves had slipped by $69 million to $306.775 billion in the previous reporting week.