Saturday, June 4, 2011

India's forex reserves rise by $1.68 bn

MUMBAI: India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves rose by $1.68 billion to $310.21 billion for the week ended May 27 on the back of a sharp increase inforeign currency assets.

This is the second consecutive weekly jump in the country's forex reserves kitty. The forex reserves had increased by $1.04 billion during the previous week.

The foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty, increased by $1.67 billion to $278.87 billion during the week under review, according to the weekly statistical supplement of theReserve Bank of India (RBI).

The foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as British pound sterling, euro and Japanese yen held in reserves.

The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) increased by $6 million to $4.59 billion and reserves with the International Monetary Fund increased by $4 million to $2.96 billion.

The value of gold reserves remained unchanged at $23.79 billion.