The country’s foreign exchange reserves dived by a hefty $2.995 billion to $277.167 billion, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. The total reserves had increased by $960.2 million to $280.162 billion last week.
Foreign currency assets, a major component of the forex reserves, dropped $2.155 billion to $249.895 billion for the week ended August 2, the Reserve Bank said.
Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies, such as euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves.
During the week, the gold reserves dropped $808.5 million to $20.747 billion, the RBI said.
For the week under review, the special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by $21.4 million to $4.352 billion, while the country’s reserve position with the IMF also fell by $10.7 million to $2.171 billion, the RBI data showed.