Forex reserves swell by $1.25 bn to $284.18 bn

The foreign exchange reserves grew by a healthy $1.25 billion to $284.18 billion for the week ended July 30, helped by a robust rise in the foreign currency assets.

In the previous week, the forex reserves stood at $282.93 billion, the Reserve Bank said in its weekly data, released today. Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the total reserves, jumped $1.84 billion to $258.55 billion from $256.71 billion the week earlier.

FCAs, expressed in US dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, the sterling and the yen, held in the reserves.

The country's gold reserves dropped by $616 million to $19.27 billion from $19.89 billion, the data showed.

The country's special drawing rights (SDRs) moved up by $19 million to $5.006 billion, while its reserve position in the International Monetary Fund inched up to $1.348 billion, up $5 million over last week's $1.343 billion, the apex bank said.