Another All-time High

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$377.77 billion as of the end of Sept. this year, showing a month-on-month increase of US$2.31 billion.
South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$377.77 billion as of the end of Sept. this year, showing a month-on-month increase of US$2.31 billion.

 

According to the Bank of Korea, South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$377.77 billion as of the end of September this year, showing a month-on-month increase of US$2.31 billion. The amount increased for the third consecutive month after increasing by US$1.49 billion in July and by US$4.08 billion in August. The amount recorded at the end of last month is an all-time high.

“Foreign currency asset management profits increased, led by trading profits derived from marketable securities transactions, interest income and the like, as is the case with the value of foreign currency assets converted to the U.S. dollar,” the central bank explained.

Last month, the U.S. dollar was rather weak against the other major currencies not including the British pound, which can be attributed to a delay in interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Specifically, the euro, yen and Australian dollar appreciated by 0.7%, 1.8% and 1.6% with respect to the U.S. dollar, respectively.

Marketable securities accounted for US$342.69 billion out of the total forex reserves, decreasing by US$2.11 billion from a month ago, whereas deposits increased by US$4.4 billion to US$25.9 billion. The SDR rose by US$30 million to US$2.58 billion and the IMF position edged down by US$10 million to US$1.8 billion. The gold reserves remained at US$4.79 billion.

As of the end of August this year, South Korea ranked seventh in the world in terms of the size of foreign exchange reserves. China’s amounted to US$3.1852 trillion (down US$15.9 billion from a month earlier) and it was followed by Japan (US$1.2561 trillion), Switzerland (US$687.6 billion), Saudi Arabia (US$562.1 billion), Taiwan (US$435.9 billion) and Russia (US$395.2 billion).

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