Mumbai, May 25 - Continuing their fall for the third consecutive week, the foreign exchange reserves have depleted by USD 1.80 billion to USD 290 billion on the back of a decline in the core currency assets.

The reserves had dwindled by USD 1.37 billion to USD 291.80 billion in the previous reporting week.

Foreign currency assets, a major component of the forex reserves, fell by USD 1.74 billion to USD 256.12 billion for the week ended May 18, the Reserve Bank said today.

Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies, such as the euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves, the apex bank said.

The gold reserves were unchanged at USD 26.61 billion, the RBI said.

For the week under review, the special drawing rights were down by USD 35.5 million to USD 4.399 billion, while the country's reserve position with the IMF also fell by USD 23.6 million to USD 2.866 billion, the apex bank data showed. PTI