Last month, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased for the third consecutive month, driven by a rise in foreign assets.
According to the Bank of Korea on September 3, the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at $442.28 billion at the end of August, up $14.33 billion from the previous month’s $427.95 billion. This marks three months of continuous growth since June.
A Bank of Korea official explained, "The significant increase was due to a rise in foreign currency deposits at financial institutions, along with gains in operational income and the dollar-equivalent value of foreign assets in other currencies."
By asset type, securities rose by $7.07 billion to $387.07 billion. Deposits also increased by $7.17 billion to $30.3 billion.
Special Drawing Rights (SDR) increased by $60 million to $15.77 billion, while the IMF position rose by $30 million to $4.34 billion. Gold remained unchanged at $47.9 billion, as it is reported at the purchase price.
However, the Bank of Korea did not provide the usual monthly ranking of foreign exchange reserves by country. This marks the first time in 25 years and six months that the Bank has excluded this information since February 2001.
In 2001, the Bank of Korea first included the names and amounts of the top 10 countries by foreign exchange reserves, and it has consistently published South Korea's ranking alongside the reserves of major countries until last month.
The Bank of Korea official stated, "The numbers have no analytical value related to external soundness. There were concerns that excessive significance was being placed on the ranking, especially as it fluctuated significantly this year. We decided to exclude it." He added, "There were no meaningful changes in external soundness during the fluctuations in ranking."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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