Forex reserves shy of record high at $371.14 bn

Foreign exchange reserves were just short of a lifetime high after rising by $1.250 billion to $371.14 billion for the week to April 21, helped by an increase in foreign currency assets, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. The reserves had touched a life-time high of $371.99 billion in the week to September 30, 2016.

In the previous week, reserves had risen by $889.4 million to $369.887 billion.

Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves, surged by $1.237 billion to $347.485 billion in the reporting week, RBI said. Expressed in US dollar terms, FCAs include the effects of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies, such as the euro, pound and the yen, held in the reserves. Gold reserves remained unchanged at $19.869 billion, the apex bank said.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund were up by $5 million to $1.451 billion.

The country’s reserve position with the Fund too rose by $7.7 million to $2.331 billion, RBI said.