Forex reserves plunge by $781.5 million

The foreign exchange reserves continued to dip for the second straight week, falling by $781.5 million to $293.56 billion due to a decline in the core currency assets. Foreign currency assets, a major component of the forex reserves, were down by $751.8 million to $258.71 billion for the week ended November 9, the Reserve Bank's said in its weekly statistical supplement on Friday.

The total reserves had dipped by $950.3 million to $294.47 billion in the previous reporting week. Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of the non-US currencies, such as the euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves, the apex bank said.

However, the gold reserves remained unchanged at $28.19 billion during the week, the apex bank said. For the week under review, the special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by $19.6 million to $4.408 billion, while the country's reserve position with the IMF was also down by $10.1 million to $2.253 billion.