Due to Government's Intervention in Forex Market
The Bank of Korea announced on Nov. 3 that South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves decreased by US$2.76 billion to US$414.01 billion last month. This year, the reserves decreased for four months in a row in March to June, rebounded in July, and then decreased for the third consecutive month.
The decrease in September and October is mainly because the foreign exchange authorities sold the U.S. dollar in order to control exchange rate fluctuations. The central bank explained that the scale of the intervention was smaller in October as the foreign exchange market was more stable that month.
As of the end of September, South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves were the ninth-largest in the world. China’s amounted to US$3.029 trillion, followed by Japan (US$1.2381 trillion) and Switzerland (US$892.1 billion).