Forex reserves slump by USD 2.06 billion

The country's forex reserves plunged by a hefty USD 2.06 billion to USD 294.31 billion for the week ended May 3 amid sharp fall in the value of gold reserves, the Reserve Bank said today.
The foreign exchange reserves had gone up by USD 1.61 billion to USD 296.37 billion in the previous week.
Foreign currency assets, a major component of the forex reserves, were down by USD 299.7 million to USD 263.73 billion for the week ended May 3, Reserve Bank's weekly statistical supplement 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 weeks, the gold reserves fell by USD 1.718 billion to USD 23.98 billion during the week, the apex bank said.
For the week under review, the special drawing rights (SDRs) were up by USD 19.3 million to USD 4.361 billion, while the country's reserve position with the IMF was down USD 65.5 million to USD 2.243 billion, the central bank data showed.