7th Largest FX Reserves
The foreign exchange reserves in February increased by a small amount from the previous month. This is due to the increase of foreign currency asset operating profits. The Bank of Korea reported on Mar. 4 that foreign exchange reserves as of the end of February recorded US$362.37 billion, increasing US$180 million from last month.
The exchanged currency assets of the euro and the yen against the U.S. dollar decreased because of the weak euro and yen. However, total reserves increased slightly, as foreign currency asset operating profit increased. The fact that other currencies, including the pound and the Australian dollar, appreciated slightly against the U.S. dollar affected the increase in the foreign exchange reserves. The euro currency in February depreciated 1.2 percent against the dollar, and the yen dropped 0.8 percent against the dollar. On the other hand, the pound appreciated 2.2 percent and Australian dollar showed a strong position with 0.3 percent.
Foreign exchange reserves consist of marketable securities with US$332.54 billion (91.8 percent), the deposit with US$19.97 billion (5.5 percent), gold with US$4.79 billion (1.3 percent), special drawing rights (SDR) of International Monetary Fund (IMF) with US$3.2 billion (0.9 percent) and the IMF position with US$1.87 billion (0.5 percent).
Marketable securities decreased US$2.08 billion, while deposits increased US$2.24 billion. The SDR and IMF position each increased by 10 million, and there was no change in the gold reserve amount.
South Korea's foreign currency reserves as of January kept seventh place globally. China (US$3.843 trillion) ranked first, followed by Japan (US$1.2611 trillion), Saudi Arabia (US$734.5 billion), Switzerland (US$585.4 billion), Taipei (US$415.9 billion), and Russia (US$376.2 billion).