S. Korea’s November FX reserves up for first time in 4 months

[Photo by Lee Seung-hwan]

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves increased for the first time in four months in November, adding more than $2 billion as the value of non-U.S. dollar foreign currency assets rose amid the greenback’s depreciation.

According to data released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Monday, the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $416.1 billion at the end of November, up $2.09 billion from the previous month. The reserves gained for the first time in four months after declining in August, September, and October.

“Foreign exchange reserves increased by a small margin as the value assets held in other foreign currency rose, despite temporary decline in financial institutions’ foreign deposits and a currency swap arrangement with the National Pension Service,” said an unnamed BOK official.

The value of other foreign currency assets when converted to U.S. dollars rose as the greenback depreciated 3.5 percent in November.

By asset type, securities including government and corporate bonds were up by $3.27 billion on month to $365.62 billion in November. The special drawing rights from the International Monetary Fund also rose $340 million to $14.65 billion and the reserve position, or portion of required quota of currency held with the IMF that can be withdrawn, increased $100 million to $4.36 billion.

Deposits stood at $26.68 billion in November, down $1.61 billion from a month ago. Gold holdings were unchanged at $4.79 billion.

Korea was the ninth-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves in the world at the end of October. China was the biggest with $3.05 trillion, followed by Japan’s $1.19 trillion, Switzerland’s $883.3 billion, Russia’s $537.2 billion, Taiwan’s $542.8 billion, India’s $534 billion, Saudi Arabia’s $463.1 billion, and Hong Kong’s $417.2 billion.