Forex reserves at record high, sniff at $360 billion

Mumbai: The foreign exchange reserves touched a new life-time high of USD 359.917 billion after they surged by USD 157.4 million in the week ended April 8, helped by rise in foreign currency assets, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

In the previous week, reserves had increased by a whopping USD 4.2 billion to touch USD 359.759 billion.

Foreign currency assets which constitute a major component of the overall reserves rose by USD 159.3 million to USD 335.845 billion in the week under review, RBI said in a release.

Foreign currency assets, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation and depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and the yen held in the reserves.

Gold reserves, however, remained unchanged at USD 20.115 billion.

The massive rise in the forex kitty comes even as the country's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund declined by USD 0.9 million to USD 1.501 billion and the reserve position dipped by USD 1 million to USD 2.455 billion.