South Korea’s foreign reserves end streak of record highs

South Korea’s foreign reserves declined in May as the country’s buffer against potential financial turmoil ended a streak of four straight record highs.

The Bank of Korea announced Thursday that official foreign reserves totaled $305.08 billion at the end of last month. That was $2.12 billion lower than the previous record of $307.20 billion set in April, AP reported.

The reserves surged past $300 billion for the first time in April. The central bank said South Korea’s reserves remained the world’s seventh largest as of the end of April.

The central bank attributed May’s decline to a decrease in the dollar value of the portion of the reserves denominated in the euro and British pound in line with their weakness against the greenback.

(아주경제 송지영 기자)

AJP