Korea's foreign exchange reserves last month see first rise in 4 months

Korea last month saw its first rise in foreign exchange reserves in four months amid monetary authorities selling the greenback to avert a sharp depreciation in the domestic currency.

The Bank of Korea on Monday in a report on foreign exchange reserves data said the amount rose $2 billion from the end of October to Nov. 30 to $416.1 billion.

Thus the country broke a three-month streak of falling reserves.

The central bank's source said, "Despite a temporary drop in foreign exchange reserves, foreign currency swap with the National Pension Service and lower foreign currency deposits at financial institutions, the amount of foreign exchange reserves slightly rose thanks to the growth in value of assets denominated in other currencies when converted to the greenback due to the latter's recent decline."

Last month, the dollar depreciated an estimated 3.5% in value based on the greenback index, meaning foreign currency-denominated assets converted to the greenback saw the same growth.

By asset type, securities like government and corporate bonds last month took up the lion's share of the reserve amount with $365.6 billion, up $3.2 billion from the month before.

Funds for special drawing rights (SDR), or a potential claim on freely usable currencies of member countries of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), reached $14.6 billion, up $340 million, and the IMF's reserve position hit $4.36 billion, up $100 million.

The deposit amount fell $1.6 billion to $26.6 billion. The price of gold did not reflect that of the market as its price for this data was the figure at the time of purchase, so its total was the same as last month's figure of $4.8 billion.

Korea thus ranked ninth worldwide in foreign currency holdings with $414 billion.

China was No. 1 with $3 trillion, followed in order by Japan with $1.1 trillion, Switzerland $883.3 billion, Russia $547.2 billion, Taiwan $542.8 billion, India $534 billion, Saudi Arabia $463.1 billion and Hong Kong $417.2 billion.

Write to Mi-Hyun Jo at mwise@hankyung.com