Foreign Exchange Reserves at $443.1 Billion at End of Last Year... Record High for 7 Consecutive Months

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Eunbyeol] In December last year, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased by nearly 7 billion dollars, setting a new record high. This marks the seventh consecutive month of record-breaking highs.

According to the Bank of Korea on the 6th, as of the end of December last year, the foreign exchange reserves stood at 443.1 billion dollars, an increase of 6.72 billion dollars compared to the previous month.

The Bank of Korea explained that the increase in foreign exchange reserves was due to the rise in the dollar value of foreign currency assets denominated in other currencies amid the weakening of the US dollar, an increase in financial institutions' reserve deposits, and earnings from foreign currency asset management.

Securities, which account for the majority of total assets, amounted to 409.84 billion dollars, surging by 15.2 billion dollars in one month.

The 'IMF position,' which is the drawing right of convertible currency against the International Monetary Fund (IMF), increased by 420 million dollars to 4.82 billion dollars, and the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) rose by 150 million dollars to 3.37 billion dollars. Deposits held at banks decreased from 29.32 billion dollars at the end of November to 20.28 billion dollars at the end of December, making it the only asset component to decline.

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.

As of the end of November last year, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves ranked 9th in the world at 4,036.4 billion dollars. China (3,178.5 billion dollars), Japan (1,384.6 billion dollars), and Switzerland (1,036.5 billion dollars) ranked first to third, respectively.

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