South Korea's Foreign Exchange Reserves Reach $426.5 Billion... Record High for 5 Consecutive Months

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Eunbyeol] South Korea's foreign exchange reserves have set a record high for five consecutive months.

The Bank of Korea announced on the 4th that as of the end of October, the foreign exchange reserves amounted to $426.51 billion, an increase of $5.96 billion compared to the previous month.

The foreign exchange reserves sharply declined in March due to the rapid fluctuations in exchange rates caused by the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but have been on the rise since April. Accordingly, the size of the foreign exchange reserves has been breaking monthly records since June, surpassing the previous high set in January.

The Bank of Korea explained that the increase in foreign exchange reserves was due to foreign currency asset management income, an increase in reserve deposits by financial institutions, and an increase in the U.S. dollar conversion amount of foreign currency assets denominated in other currencies.

Breaking down the foreign exchange reserves by asset type, securities such as government bonds and corporate bonds increased by $4.57 billion in one month to $383.66 billion. Deposits held at banks amounted to $30.51 billion, up $1.36 billion from the previous month.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDR) increased by $10 million to $3.19 billion, and the 'IMF position,' which is the right to draw exchangeable currency from the IMF, rose by $20 billion to $4.36 billion.

Gold, which is recorded at the purchase price without reflecting market prices, remained the same as the previous month at $4.79 billion.

As of the end of September, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves ranked 9th in the world at $420.5 billion.

China holds the top position with $3.1426 trillion, followed by Japan ($1.3898 trillion), Switzerland ($1.0153 trillion), Russia ($583.4 billion), India ($544.7 billion), Taiwan ($499.6 billion), Hong Kong ($453.3 billion), and Saudi Arabia ($447.5 billion) ranking 2nd to 8th respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.