Forex kitty continues to swells, scales past $451-bn-mark

Foreign exchange reserves gained USD 2.484 billion to touch a new high of USD 451.08 billion in the week to November 29, according to the weekly data released by the Reserve Bank on Friday.

In the previous week, the reserves had increased by USD 347 million to USD 448.6 billion.

Announcing the fifth bi-monthly monetary policy on Thursday, governor Shaktikanta Das had said the reserves touched USD 451.7 billion as of December 3, an increase of USD 38.8 billion since April.

In the reporting week, the rise in reserves was mainly on account of an increase in foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, which rose by USD 2.642 million to USD 419.367 billion, according to the data.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and the yen held in forex reserves.

However, during the reporting week, gold reserves declined by USD 148 million to USD 26.648 billion.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund also slipped by USD 4 million to USD 1.436 billion during the week.

The country's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund also came down by USD 6 million to USD 3.629 billion, the data showed.