South Africa’s gross foreign reserves, which include gold and foreign exchange, rose in February, mainly due to an increase in gold price, AllAfrica reported. The Reserve Bank’s holdings of gross reserves increased by $56 million to $46.7 billion in February, according to bank data released on Tuesday. That is up from $46.6 billion in January. 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.