MUMBAI: After four weeks of continuous decline losing cumulatively around $10 billion, the forex reserves gained by $3.68 billion to $641.59 billion for the week to May 3, show the latest weekly data from the Reserve Bank Friday.
In the immediate past week ending April 26, the overall kitty had dropped by $2.412 billion to $637.922 billion.
Typically, the reserves gain when the RBI buys dollars/foreign exchange from the market primarily to stabilize the rupee, which for many weeks has been a bit wobbly. The reserves decline when the central bank sells foreign exchange to defend the rupee if it’s in a free fall, though officially the RBI does not have a level for the rupee.
The reserves had hit an all-time high of $648.562 billion in the week to April 5, eight continuous weeks of increases after breaching the previous high of September 2021 in March this year.
For the week ended May 3, the foreign currency assets, which is the major component of the reserves, increased by $4.459 billion to $564.161 billion, the data show.
Expressed in 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.
Despite the continuing rally in gold prices, the bullion reserves declined by $653 million to $54.88 billion during the reporting week, the Reserve Bank of said.
On the other hand, the special drawing rights (SDRs) with the World Bank rose by $2 million to $18.051 billion, the apex bank said, adding the country’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund was down by $140 million to $4.499 billion.
