Forex Reserves Fall Nearly $10 Billion To $622.275 Billion, RBI Data

India’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $9.646 billion to $622.275 billion in the week that ended on March 11, according to the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India.

That comes after reserves jumped by $394 million to $631.92 billion in the prior week that ended on March 4.

The decline in the latest week was primarily driven by the fall in the foreign currency assets (FCA) – a significant component of the overall reserves. Indeed, FCA decreased by $11.108 billion to $554.359 billion in the week that ended on March 11, the RBI weekly data released on Friday showed.

Forex reserves had touched a lifetime high of $642.453 billion in the week that ended on September 3, 2021.

The foreign currency assets – expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

With the dollar gained driven by an increase in flight-to-safety bets and as the US Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time since the pandemic and is setting itself for an aggressive policy tightening stance.

Gold reserves increased by $1.522 billion to $43.842 billion in the reporting week, the data showed. The RBI said that the special drawing rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dipped by $53 million to $18.928 billion.

The country’s reserve position with the IMF decreased by $7 million to $5.146 billion in the latest week.