Forex reserves shrink by $2.88 billion

Continuing its declining trend, the foreign exchange reserves declined by US$ 2.889 billion to US$ 349.037 billion in the week through September 4 due to the continuing fall in foreign currency assets.

In the previous reporting week, the reserves had fallen sharply by US$ 3.433 billion to US$ 351.920 billion.

In the last two reporting weeks, the reserves had come down by a whopping US$ 6.322 billion.

Reserves had touched an all-time high of US$ 355.46 billion in the week to June 19.

Foreign currency assets, which are a major component of the overall reserves, were down by US$ 2.650 billion to US$ 325.656 billion in the week, according to the latest Reserve Bank data.

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.

After remaining unchanged for many weeks, the gold reserves slightly declined by US$ 214.8 million to US$ 18.035 billion.

The country’s special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund fell by US$ 18.6 million to touch US$ 4.049 billion in the week under review, while the nation’s reserve position with the Fund declined by US$ 5.9 million to US$ 1.289 billion, the apex bank said.