Forex reserves down by $1.1 billion

After rising continuously for the past three weeks, India's foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.1 billion for the week ended August 19, 2005.

The forex reserves stood at $1,43,218 million, a fall of $1,157 million, during the week under review, according to Reserve Bank of India's weekly statistical supplement released in Mumbai on Saturday.

The fall in inflows is mainly due to the revaluation of international currencies especially USD, analysts said. Foreign currency assets also decreased by $1,141 million to $1,37,383 million, it said.

Gold reserves and Special Drawing Rights remained static at $4,395 and $4 million, it said. The country's reserve tranche position fell by $16 million to $1,436 million, it said.

Loans to the state government decreased by Rs 3,141 crore (Rs 31.41 billion) to Rs 429 crore (Rs 4.29 billion) while loans to the central government showed nil balance, it added.