Record High FX Reserves

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$375.46 billion as of the end of August, US$4.08 billion more than a month earlier.
South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$375.46 billion as of the end of August, US$4.08 billion more than a month earlier.

 

The Bank of Korea announced on September 5 that South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$375.46 billion as of the end of August, US$4.08 billion more than a month earlier. The amount increased for the second consecutive month to hit an all-time high. It increased by US$1.49 billion in July this year.

The central bank explained that the increase in foreign exchange reserves can be attributed to an increase in profits derived from foreign currency asset management such as trading margins related to marketable securities and interest income and an increase in the amount of non-U.S. dollar foreign currency assets converted into the U.S. dollar. Last month, euro and yen appreciated by 0.7% and 1.8% with respect to the U.S. dollar, respectively.

Marketable securities such as government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds and asset-backed securities increased by approximately US$7.9 billion and accounted for US$344.8 billion out of the total foreign exchange reserves last month. In contrast, foreign exchange deposits decreased US$3.91 billion to US$21.5 billion. The IMF SDR rose by US$10 million to US$2.55 billion and the IMF position increased by the same amount to US$1.81 billion. The gold reserve remained the same at US$4.79 billion.

As of the end of July this year, South Korea ranked seventh in the world in terms of the size of foreign exchange reserves. China topped the list with US$3.2011 trillion (down US$4.1 billion from a month ago), followed by Japan (US$1.2648 trillion), Switzerland (US$685 billion), Saudi Arabia (US$563.5 billion), Taiwan (US$434.1 billion) and Russia (US$393.9 billion).

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