NEW DELHI: India’s
foreign exchange reserves
declined by $8.478 billion to settle at $644.391 billion for the week ending on December 20, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday.
This marks a continued slide after a $1.988 billion drop in the previous week, bringing reserves to a six-month low of $652.869 billion, news agency PTI reported.
Recent weeks have shown a consistent decline in reserves, attributed to revaluation and RBI’s interventions in the forex market to stabilise
rupee fluctuations
. The reserves had previously reached their peak at $704.885 billion at September’s end.
During the period ending December 20, the
foreign currency assets
, which constitute a significant portion of the reserves, saw a reduction of $6.014 billion, settling at $556.562 billion, according to the data released.
The foreign currency assets, when expressed in dollar terms, incorporate the impact of value changes in non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen that are maintained within the foreign exchange reserves.
RBI said that Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) decreased by $112 million to $17.885 billion.
Gold reserves
also saw a reduction of $2.33 billion, settling at $65.726 billion, as reported by the RBI.
The central bank’s data showed that India’s reserve position with the IMF declined by $23 million, reaching $4.217 billion in the reporting week.
