South Korea’s Forex Reserves Fell for the Second Consecutive Month

According to the Bank of Korea, South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$371.99 billion as of the end of November this year, showing a month-on-month decrease of US$3.18 billion.

Last month, the U.S. dollar was rather strong against the other major currencies and this resulted in a decrease in the value of the Bank of Korea’s foreign currency assets converted to the U.S. dollar and the decline in the reserves. The forex reserves had totaled US$369.889 billion in June this year and rose to US$371.383 billion, US$375.459 billion and US$377.77 billion in the following months. However, it dropped for the first time in four months in October and dropped for the second consecutive month in the subsequent month.

Marketable securities accounted for US$336.88 billion out of the total forex reserves, decreasing by US$5.41 billion from a month ago, and deposits increased US$1.88 billion to US$25.66 billion. The SDR rose by US$370 million to US$2.9 billion and the IMF position edged down by US$30 million to US$1.74 billion. The gold reserves remained at US$4.79 billion.

As of the end of last month, South Korea ranked eighth in the world in terms of the size of foreign exchange reserves. China topped the list, followed by Japan, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Russia and Hong Kong.