Forex reserves jump by to $296.63 bn

The foreign exchange reserves rose by a robust $1.637 billion to touch $296.63 billion during the week ended December 14 on the back of healthy addition of core currency assets, the Reserve Bank said.

The total reserves stood at $294.99 billion in the previous reporting week.

Foreign currency assets, a major component of the forex reserves, were up by $1.614 billion to $262.119 billion for the week ended December 14, according to the Reserve Bank's weekly statistical supplement.

Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies, such as the euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves, the apex bank said.

The gold reserves remained unchanged at $27.803 billion during the week, RBI said.

For the week under review, the special drawing rights (SDRs) were up by $15.4 million to $4.43 billion, while the country's reserve position with the IMF was also up by $7.8 million to $ 2.27 billion, according to the RBI data.