The stormy surge in the country’s foreign exchange reserves reaches a record level of 21 months

The country’s foreign exchange reserves rose for the sixth consecutive week by $4.5 billion to $620.44 billion in the week ended December 22 due to an increase in foreign currency assets and special drawing rights. Similarly, last week the foreign exchange reserves had increased by $ 9.11 billion to $ 615.97 billion. According to the weekly data released by the Reserve Bank on Friday, in the week ending December 22, foreign currency assets, the largest component of foreign exchange reserves, increased by $ 4.7 billion to $ 549.75 billion.

At the same time, during this period the gold reserves decreased by $102 million to $47.5 billion. In the week under review, Special Drawing Rights increased by $4 million and reached $18.33 billion. At the same time, during this period, the reserve fund with the International Monetary Fund declined by $129 million to $4.9 billion.

Just 25 billion dollars away from the highest level ever
In October 2021, the country’s foreign exchange reserves had reached an all-time high of $645 billion. Thus, at the current level of $620 billion, foreign exchange reserves are just $25 billion away from their peak. Amidst the pressure created due to developments around the world since last year, the RBI has used foreign exchange reserves on a large scale to support the rupee. According to central bank data, this year an increase of $ 57.634 billion has been recorded in foreign exchange reserves.

In the week ending December 22, foreign currency assets, an important part of foreign exchange reserves, increased by $ 4.898 billion to $ 549.747 billion. Foreign currency assets expressed in dollars take into account the effects of movements in non-US currencies such as the euro, pound, and yen. However, according to the Reserve Bank, the value of gold reserves decreased by $ 107 million to $ 47.474 billion. Also, read this.