Forex reserves set to cross $655 bn by March, says report

As the central bank continues to increase forex reserves by running down the forward book which totalled $42 billion as of end-july, signalling its strong resolve to build a bigger reserve cushion to aid its expansionary, unorthodox monetary policy, the reserves are set to top the $655-billion-mark by March, according to a report. The forex kitty declined by $2.10 billion to $619.365 billion for the week to August 13 due to a fall in the core currency assets and gold, showed the latest RBI data. The reserves had risen to a lifetime high of $621.464 billion in the previous reporting week ending August 6. While foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the reserves, declined by $1.358 billion to $576.374 billion in the reporting week, the value of the gold reserves slipped by $720 million to $36.336 billion.