India’s forex reserves hit new high at $367 bn
29/08/2016 15:46
Marking a fourth straight weekly gain, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have reached a record high driven by a jump in foreign currency assets, putting Asia’s third biggest economy on a good footing in the wake of continued global headwinds including Brexit jitters, China slowdown, weakness in commodity prices and potential US monetary tightening this year.
Foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 1.346 billion to USD 367.169 billion in the week to August 19, 2016, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.
In the week ended August 12, 2016, India’s forex reserves climbed by USD 73.2 million to USD 365.82 billion from the prior week.
Foreign currency assets, which are expressed in dollar terms and include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non US currencies such as euro, pound and yen held in reserves climbed by USD 1.315 billion to USD 341.675 billion in the week ended August 19, 2016 from the previous week, the RBI added. Foreign currency assets are the biggest component of the overall forex reserves.
Gold reserves were unchanged at USD 21.584 billion in the week ended August 19.
The RBI has been bolstering its foreign exchange reserves kitty ahead of the FCNR (B) maturities set for September which is expected to cause an outflow of about USD 30 billion.
