Gross foreign exchange reserves in South Africa rose to $81.060 billion in February 2026, hitting a fresh record high, up from $80.193 billion in the previous month. This was driven largely by increases in gold reserves ($20.930 billion vs $20.670 billion in January) and foreign currency reserves ($53.500 billion vs $52.857). At the same time, the forward position, representing the central bank’s unsettled or swap transactions, increased $0.010 billion to $0.574 billion from $0.564 billion in the prior month. In contrast, SDR holdings saw a decrease of $0.036 billion to $6.630 billion from $6.666 billion.