South Africa’s gross foreign exchange reserves climbed to a new record high of $81.060 billion in February 2026, up from $80.193 billion in January. The increase was driven mainly by higher gold reserves, which rose to $20.930 billion from $20.670 billion, and a gain in foreign currency reserves, which advanced to $53.500 billion from $52.857 billion.
Meanwhile, the forward position—reflecting the central bank’s outstanding forward and swap transactions—edged up by $0.010 billion to $0.574 billion from $0.564 billion in the previous month. In contrast, Special Drawing Rights (SDR) holdings declined by $0.036 billion to $6.630 billion, down from $6.666 billion.
