Foreign Exchange Reserves Increase Again After One Month... $421.45 Billion

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased by 470 million dollars last month.

The Bank of Korea announced on the 5th that as of the end of June, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves stood at 421.45 billion dollars, up 470 million dollars from the end of the previous month.

The foreign exchange reserves had decreased by 5.7 billion dollars in May to 420.98 billion dollars, marking the lowest level since November last year (416.1491 billion dollars), but they increased again after one month.

The Bank of Korea explained that the increase in foreign exchange reserves was mainly due to the rise in the US dollar equivalent of foreign currency assets in other currencies and the increase in foreign currency deposits of financial institutions.

Last month, as concerns over tightening by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) eased, the dollar index, which indicates the value of the dollar against six major currencies, fell by 0.8%. Meanwhile, the euro rose 1.3% against the dollar, and the pound and Australian dollar also increased by 1.6% each. However, the yen decreased by 3.4%.

Among the foreign exchange reserves, deposits increased by 374 million dollars. Their share within the foreign exchange reserves grew to 5.1%. Securities, which make up the majority of the foreign exchange reserves, decreased by 3.32 billion dollars in one month to 375.64 billion dollars. Their share within the foreign exchange reserves is 89.1%.

Recently, the won-dollar exchange rate has been moving around 1,300 won. According to Seoul Foreign Exchange Brokerage on the previous day, the won-dollar exchange rate closed at 1,301.4 won, down 6.6 won from the previous trading day's closing price.

As of the end of May, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves ranked 9th in the world.

China had the largest reserves at 3.1765 trillion dollars, down 28.3 billion dollars in one month, followed by Japan (1.2545 trillion dollars), Switzerland (886 billion dollars), India (590.7 billion dollars), Russia (584.2 billion dollars), Taiwan (562.9 billion dollars), Saudi Arabia (442.2 billion dollars), and Hong Kong (421 billion dollars).