Forex reserves up by $44 mn to $562.85 bn on rise in RBI gold reserves

The Reserve Bank of India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $44 million in the week ending December 30, according to the most recent central bank data.

The RBI’s reserves increased marginally last week due to an increase in the central bank’s gold reserves, which increased $354 million to $41.32 billion, according to the data.

In the week ending December 30, the RBI’s foreign currency assets fell by $302 million to $498.19 billion. The rupee gained 0.2 percent against the dollar in the previous week.
The Indian rupee fell slightly more than 10% against the US dollar in 2022 as a result of global risk aversion sparked by the Ukraine war and the US Federal Reserve’s  aggressive monetary tightening.

While the rupee fell against the US dollar, it did not fall as far as many other currencies, thanks in part to the RBI selling dollars from its reserves.
The RBI’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $631.53 billion on February 25, 2022, around the time Russia invaded Ukraine.

According to the Reserve Bank of India, foreign exchange reserves of $564.1 billion as of December 9 accounted for 9.2 months of imports projected for the current fiscal year. In September 2021, the level of reserves accounted for nearly 15 months of imports.

Source:BS