Strong Dollar... Foreign Exchange Reserves Decline for Two Consecutive Months

Foreign Exchange Reserves at $415.7 Billion at End of February
Decrease of $30 Million from Previous Month

An employee is organizing US dollars at the Hana Bank Counterfeit Response Center in Euljiro, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

As the US dollar strengthened, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves decreased for the second consecutive month.

According to the Bank of Korea on the 6th, the foreign exchange reserves at the end of February stood at 415.73 billion dollars, down 30 million dollars from the previous month. South Korea's foreign exchange reserves have declined for two consecutive months this year, following a decrease of 4.39 billion dollars in January.

A Bank of Korea official explained, "South Korea's foreign exchange reserves in February slightly decreased due to the reduction in the dollar-converted value of foreign currency assets in other currencies caused by the strengthening of the US dollar." Last month, the US dollar index rose by 0.6% compared to the previous month.

By asset type, securities such as government bonds and corporate bonds accounted for the largest portion at 369.52 billion dollars (88.9%).

Additionally, deposits amounted to 21.81 billion dollars (5.2%), Special Drawing Rights (SDR) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were 15.07 billion dollars (3.6%), gold was 4.79 billion dollars (1.2%), and the IMF position was 4.54 billion dollars (1.1%).

As of the end of January, South Korea maintained its 9th place in the world in terms of the size of foreign exchange reserves (as of last month). China ranked first with 3.2193 trillion dollars. Japan was second with 1.2918 trillion dollars, Switzerland third with 857.2 billion dollars, and India fourth with 620 billion dollars.