South Africa’s gross reserves, which include gold and foreign exchange, were down $209 million to $46.2 billion in July from $46.4 billion in June, BDLive reported. Foreign exchange reserves are an important indicator of a country’s ability to repay foreign debt in the short term and are used for currency defense. Reserves are also one of the factors used to determine a country’s credit rating. The decrease in the gross reserves was mainly due to foreign payments made on behalf of the government and currency valuations. The international liquidity position rose $75 million to $40.9 billion in July from $40.8 billion in June.
