The country’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $1.31 billion between November 22 and November 29 to reach $656.58 billion. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave this information on Friday. Earlier, in the week ending November 15, the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $657.89 billion, a record decline of $17.76 billion.
At the end of September, foreign exchange reserves had reached an all-time high of $ 704.88 billion. Since then it has been declining for the last several weeks.
Why did India’s foreign exchange reserves decrease?
According to the data released by the Reserve Bank on Friday, foreign currency assets, considered an important part of the foreign exchange reserves, decreased by $ 3.04 billion to $ 566.79 billion in the week ending November 22.
Foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms include the impact of movements in non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in foreign exchange reserves. In the week under review, the value of gold reserves increased by $ 1.83 billion to $ 67.57 billion. Special Drawing Rights (SDR) declined by $79 million to $17.98 billion.
According to Reserve Bank data, India’s reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decreased by $ 15 million to $ 4.23 billion in the week under review.
Fiscal deficit was 46.5 percent
The Centre’s fiscal deficit reached 46.5 percent of the full year’s target in the first seven months of the financial year 2024-25. This information was given in government data on Friday. According to data from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the fiscal deficit during the April-October period stood at Rs 7,50,824 crore. The difference between the expenditure and revenue of the government is called fiscal deficit. The deficit in the same period of financial year 2023-24 was 45 percent of the budget estimate.
Pakistan’s foreign reserves increased by 2.2 billion
According to the report of State Bank of Pakistan, its foreign exchange has increased by 2.2 billion dollars. At present, Pakistan’s total foreign exchange reserves have reached 13.1 billion. Such a rise has been seen in Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves since July.