Forex reserves reach record $455 billion

MUMBAI: The country’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $456 million to a fresh lifetime high of $454.9 billion in the week to December 20, according to

RBI data

. In the previous week, the reserves had swelled by $1 billion to $454.4 billion.


In the reporting week, the rise in reserves was mainly on account of an increase in foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, which surged by $311 million to $422.7 billion, weekly data released by the RBI 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 the yen held in the

forex reserves

.

During the reporting week, gold reserves increased by $164 million to $27 billion. The

special drawing rights

with the IMF dipped $1 million to $1.4 billion. The country’s reserve position with the IMF also declined by $17 million to $3.6 billion, the data showed.