RBI remains net seller of US dollar in May; sells USD 5.767 bn

Reserve Bank remained net seller of the US dollar after it sold whopping USD 5.767 billion of the US currency on net basis in May in the spot market, according to data.

This is the second consecutive month when RBI had net sold the greenback in the spot market.

During the reporting month, RBI had bought USD 4.101 billion of dollars, while it sold USD 9.868 billion in the spot market. In April, the RBI had net sold 2.483 billion of the US currency.

In May 2017, the apex bank was net buyer at USD 5.006 billion, after it had purchased USD 7.020 billion of dollars, and sold USD 2.014 billion.

RBI has always maintained that its intervention in the foreign exchange market was to curb volatility in the rupee and not to target a level of the domestic currency.

In FY18, the apex bank had net purchased USD 33.689 billion from the spot market. It had bought USD 52.068 billion from the spot market, while selling USD 18,379 billion.

In FY17, RBI had bought USD 12.351 billion of dollars on a net basis. In the forward dollar market, the outstanding net forward purchase at the end of May was USD 11.252 billion.

The net forward purchase at the end of April was USD 17.393 billion, RBI said.