Forex kitty swells by $4.7 bn to $418.5 bn on dollar swap auction

In the swap auction conducted on April 23, the Reserve Bank had received bids worth $ 18.65 billion against $ 5 billion on offer.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

The country's foreign exchange reserves soared by $ 4.368 billion to $ 418.515 billion in the week to April 26, helped by the second dollar-rupee swap auction, RBI data showed on Friday.

In the swap auction conducted on April 23, the Reserve Bank had received bids worth $ 18.65 billion against $ 5 billion on offer.

It accepted just five bids worth $ 5 billion.

In the previous week, the forex reserves had declined by $ 739.2 million to $ 414.147 billion.

In the reporting week, foreign currency assets, which are a major component of the overall reserves, rose by $ 4.387 billion to $ 390.421 billion.

Expressed in US dollar terms, foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies like the euro, pound and yen held in the reserves.

The forex kitty had touched a life-time high of $ 426.028 billion in the week to April 13, 2018.

Gold reserves remained unchanged at $ 23.303 billion, according to the data.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund were down by $ 5.9 million to $ 1.449 billion.

The country's reserve position with the Fund also declined $ 13.6 million to $ 3.341 billion, the according to the Reserve Bank.