Foreign Exchange Reserves Increase by $2.4 Billion in August... 5 Consecutive Months of Growth
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Eunbyeol] South Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased by about 2.4 billion dollars in one month.
The Bank of Korea announced on the 3rd that as of the end of August, the foreign exchange reserves stood at 418.95 billion dollars, up 2.42 billion dollars (about 2.9 trillion won) from 416.53 billion dollars at the end of July. This was due to earnings from foreign currency asset management and the depreciation of the US dollar, which increased the dollar conversion amount of foreign currency assets denominated in other currencies.
The foreign exchange reserves decreased by about 9 billion dollars in March due to the rapid exchange rate fluctuations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but then maintained an increasing trend for five consecutive months through April (+3.77 billion dollars), May (+3.33 billion dollars), June (+3.44 billion dollars), July (+5.77 billion dollars), and August.
Breaking down the foreign exchange reserves by asset type, securities (government bonds, corporate bonds, etc.) increased by 3.41 billion dollars from the previous month to 382.79 billion dollars. Deposits held at banks amounted to 23.82 billion dollars, down 1.04 billion dollars, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDR) increased by 30 million dollars to 3.15 billion dollars. The 'IMF position'?the right to draw exchangeable currency from the IMF?also increased by 40 million dollars to 4.4 billion dollars.
In the case of gold, since it is recorded at the purchase price without reflecting market prices, it remained the same as the previous month at 4.79 billion dollars.
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As of the end of July, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves ranked 9th in the world at 416.5 billion dollars. China (3.1544 trillion dollars) had the largest reserves, followed by Japan (1.0425 trillion dollars) and Switzerland (1.0017 trillion dollars).
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