Forex stocks drop by $8.478 bn to $644.391 bn

Mumbai: The country’s forex reserves dropped by a further $8.478 billion to $644.391 billion for the week ended December 20, the RBI said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the reserves had dropped by $1.988 billion to a six-month low of $652.869 billion. The forex reserves had increased to an all-time high of $704.885 billion in end-September.

For the week ended December 20, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, decreased by $6.014 billion to $556.562 billion, the data released on Friday showed.

Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold reserves decreased by $2.33 billion to $65.726 billion during the week, the RBI said.

The Special Drawing Rights were down by $112 million to $17.885 billion, the apex

bank said. India’s reserve position with the IMF was also down by $23 million to $4.217 billion in the reporting week, the central bank data showed.