Korea’s foreign reserves gain $610 mn in April on weak U.S. dollar

An official at Hana Bank in Seoul inspects U.S. banknotes. [Photo by Lee Seung-hwan]

South Korea’s foreign reserves added $610 million in April, gaining for two straight months, on a weaker value of the U.S. dollar.

According to the Bank of Korea (BOK)’s data on Thursday, the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $426.7 billion at the end of April, up $610 million from $426.1 billion at the end of March.

“The revenue from assets in foreign currencies has grown and assets in euros and other currencies when converted into U.S. dollars increased on a slightly weaker U.S. dollar,” said an unnamed official from the BOK.

The U.S. dollar lost 0.6 percent in April based on the U.S. dollar index, leading to an increase in the value of assets in other foreign currencies converted to the greenback.

By asset, securities, including government and corporate bonds, stood at $374.3 billion in April, down $3.25 billion from a month ago. Deposits increased $3.71 billion to $27.85 billion.

Special drawing rights from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose $130 million to $14.93 billion. IMF positions, the right to withdraw convertible currency from the IMF rose $20 million to $4.77 billion.

Gold reserves remained unchanged from the previous month at $4.79 billion as the price at purchase was registered as its value.

As of March, Korea ranked No. 9 in foreign reserve holdings. China ranked top with $3.18 trillion, followed by Japan with $1.26 trillion, and Switzerland $894 billion.