Forex kitty up by USD 502 mn to USD 289.15 bn

The total reserves had increased by USD 1.31 billion to USD 288.65 billion in the previous reporting week.

Foreign currency assets, a major component of the forex reserves, were up by USD 560.7 million to USD 256.95 billion for the reporting week, the Reserve Bank said today.

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.

After remaining unchanged for many weeks, the gold reserves dropped by USD 45.5 million to USD 25.71 billion, the apex bank said.

For the week under review, the special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by USD 8.7 million to USD 4.350 billion, while the country's reserve position with the IMF was also down USD 4.3 million to USD 2,133 billion, the apex bank data showed.