SA's forex reserves up

Johannesburg - South Africa's net gold and foreign exchange reserves increased to $44.5bn in January, the SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) said on Monday.

This was up by $1.1bn from December's $43.4bn.

Foreign exchange reserves came in at $37.2bn in January, up by $1.8bn from the previous month.

Gold reserves decreased to $5.2m in January from $5.7m in December.

"Both the Sarb and Treasury increased their forex holdings in January, a reflection of increased levels of liquidity in the market during the month," said Kgotso Radira, economist for Investec Group Economics.

"The increase in the Sarb's forex reserves is an indication of strong market intervention and could have exacerbated the rand's movement on the month from R6.63/$ in December to R7.17/$ in January," he said.

The accumulation of reserves was important as it helped to build the nation's balance sheet, but he added it could not determine the value of the rand exchange rate.