Foreign Currency Deposits Decreased by $4.82 Billion Last Month Due to Import Payments and Other Factors

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Eun-byeol] Resident foreign currency deposits, which had surged to an all-time high at the end of last year, decreased by about 5 billion dollars last month.

According to the 'Resident Foreign Currency Deposit Trends in January' released by the Bank of Korea on the 18th, the balance of resident foreign currency deposits at foreign exchange banks as of the end of last month was recorded at 89.38 billion dollars. This is 4.82 billion dollars less than December (94.2 billion dollars).

Resident foreign currency deposits refer to domestic foreign currency deposits held by nationals, domestic companies, foreigners residing in Korea for more than six months, and foreign companies operating in Korea.

Previously, foreign currency deposits broke records for three consecutive months starting from June last year, briefly decreased in September (-3.1 billion dollars), but then set new records again for three consecutive months from October to December. By category, corporate deposits (69.68 billion dollars) decreased by 4.71 billion dollars in one month, and individual deposits (19.7 billion dollars) decreased by 110 million dollars.

By currency type, dollar deposits (76.16 billion dollars) decreased by as much as 3.88 billion dollars compared to the end of December, while euro (4.36 billion dollars) and yen (5.25 billion dollars) deposits also declined by 350 million dollars and 190 million dollars respectively. Yuan deposits (1.8 billion dollars) also decreased by 180 million dollars.

A Bank of Korea official explained, "The decrease in dollar deposits was mainly due to corporate import payment settlements and spot foreign exchange sales caused by the rise in the won-dollar exchange rate, while euro deposits were affected by the maturity of securities firms' short-term operating funds and withdrawals for investor overseas stock purchase settlements."

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