INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Reserve Bank of Indias (RBIs) foreign exchange reserves declined by $5.7 billion to an 11-week low of $561.27 billion in the week ended
February 17, most current central bank data showed.
The fall in the reserves for the third straight week was mainly on account of a drop in
the RBIs foreign currency assets, which declined $4.5 billion to $496.07 billion in the previous week.
The RBIs gold reserves also
decreased last week, dropping $1 billion to $41.82 billion, the data revealed.
In the week gone by, the rupee diminished 0.4 per cent versus
the United States dollar, settling at 82.83 per United States dollar on February 17.
Analysts stated a part of the decline in the reserves
last week could be credited to likely dollar sales by the reserve bank in order to avoid excess volatility in the rupee.
The decline in
non-dollar assets and the central banks intervention to match the dollar need pushed the forex reserves lower for another week
Some business dollar outflows for debt repayment were seen throughout that week, HDFC Securities research study analyst Dilip Parmar
stated.
Following sharp boosts in November and December, the RBIs reserves have actually been declining for the past few weeks, mostly in
line with renewed issues over rate walkings by the Federal Reserve and a resultant rise in the US dollar worldwide.
Reserves worth $576.8
billion as on January 27 cover 9.4 months of forecasted imports for the present fiscal year, the RBI staff said in the central banks
February Bulletin.
From June to October of 2022, the RBI was a net seller of United States dollars in the currency market as the reserve
bank looked for to rein in excessive volatility in the rupees exchange rate amidst the Ukraine war and aggressive rate walkings by the
The forex reserves increased by $28.9 billion since September-end to $561.6 billion as on January 6.
