Forex reserves, or foreign exchange reserves, are the holdings of a specific central bank in foreign currencies. Central banks use their foreign currency reserves in times of crisis, such as when the national currency is exposed to losing a lot of its value due to hyperinflation. Countries that peg their exchange rate usually use their foreign currency reserves to do so, as they need to maintain that artificial price.
Central banks use their foreign currency reserves for various reasons. Even when central banks do not peg their currency to another currency, they often try to keep the value of their local currencies low in comparison with international reserves currencies. They do so with the assumption that it makes their...