MUMBAI: The nation’s forex reserves have touched a new all-time high of $670.86 billion for the week ending July 19, adding $4 billion from the previous week, as foreign funds continue to flow in the country after the government bond inclusion into a global debt index last month.
In the week to July 12, the forex reserves, which is the best defence against external imbalances, had rallied by a whopping $9.69 billion to scale $666.85 billion.
But what is surprising is that normally the rupee gains when inflows are good, but since the JP Morgan bond inclusion the rupee has been struggling and hit many record lows. Since the budget, the rupee has plumbed new lows and closed 2 paise down at 83.746 down from 83.71 on Thursday.
According to the weekly statistical supplement issued by the Reserve Bank Friday, the forex reserves added $4 billion to hit an all-time high of $670.86 billion as of July 19.
The rise was led by foreign currency assets which increased by $2.57 billion to $588.05 billion. Expressed in US dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
Reflecting the rally in the bullion prices globally, gold reserves rose by $1.32 billion to $59.99 billion, whereas SDRs were up by $95 million to $18.20 billion, the central bank said, adding the reserve position in the IMF remained unchanged at $4.60 billion.