South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves rose for a second straight month in July despite a stronger U.S. dollar.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday that the country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $411.3 billion at the end of July, up $1.13 billion from June.
The reserves had gained $5.61 billion in June after hitting a five-year low in May.
The central bank said the increase was supported by new issuance of foreign exchange stabilization bonds and higher investment income, which offset the currency conversion losses from the stronger dollar.
The BOK noted that proceeds from the 1.4 billion-euro ($1.6 billion) issuance of foreign exchange stabilization bonds on June 26 were deposited in July.
By asset type, securities such as government and corporate bonds rose by $6.56 billion to $365.06 billion.
Deposits fell by $5.29 billion to $21.25 billion, and the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights declined by $190 million to $15.71 billion.
Gold holdings were unchanged at $4.79 billion.
Korea was the tenth-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves in the world as of the end of June.
China held the largest reserves at $3.32 trillion, followed by Japan ($1.31 trillion), Switzerland ($1.02 trillion), India ($698.1 billion), Russia ($688.7 billion), Taiwan ($598.4 billion), Saudi Arabia ($457.6 billion), Germany ($456.3 billion), and Hong Kong ($431.9 billion).
By Pulse
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