FX Reserves
According to the Bank of Korea, South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves totaled US$384.84 billion as of the end of last month, showing a month-on-month increase of US$1.08 billion. Its forex reserves hit an all-time high for the fourth consecutive month.
Last month, the central bank succeeded in maintaining the revenue from its foreign currency-denominated assets while the value of its foreign currency assets converted to the U.S. dollar increased. During the same period, the euro and yen appreciated by 1.2% and 0.2% with respect to the US dollar, respectively. The USD Index, which shows the value of the USD in comparison to six major currencies, fell 0.2% last month.
Marketable securities such as government and government agency bonds and asset-backed securities decreased by US$360 million from the end of July and reached US$354.2 billion while deposits in foreign central banks and major global banks rose by US$1.39 billion to US$20.77 billion. The SDR edged up by US$30 million to US$3.32 billion and the gold reserves remained at US$4.79 billion.
As of the end of July this year, South Korea ranked ninth in the world in terms of size of foreign exchange reserves. China (up US$23.9 billion in a month to US$3.0807 trillion) topped the list, followed by Japan (US$1.26 trillion), Switzerland (US$785.5 billion), Saudi Arabia (US$494.5 billion), Taiwan (US$444.5 billion), Russia (US$418.4 billion), Hong Kong (US$413.3 billion), and India (US$393.7 billion).