Due to Dollar Weakness... Foreign Exchange Reserves Increase for 2 Consecutive Months

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

According to the 'End of August Foreign Exchange Reserves' report released by the Bank of Korea on the 4th, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves last month amounted to $415.92 billion, an increase of $2.41 billion compared to the previous month.

Due to the strong dollar, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves had decreased for three consecutive months until June. However, with recent expectations of a US interest rate cut, the dollar weakened, leading to a two-month consecutive increase in foreign exchange reserves. The US dollar index in August fell by 3.1% compared to the previous month.

A Bank of Korea official explained, "In August, although foreign currency deposits by financial institutions decreased, the US dollar equivalent of foreign currency assets in other currencies increased due to the weak US dollar, and foreign currency asset management income also rose, resulting in an increase in foreign exchange reserves."

The foreign exchange reserves consisted of securities worth $369.44 billion (88.8%), deposits of $22.05 billion (5.3%), Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of $15.25 billion (3.7%), gold worth $4.79 billion (1.2%), and IMF positions of $4.39 billion (1.1%).

As of the end of July, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves ranked 9th in the world. China ranked first with $3.2564 trillion, Japan was second with $1.2191 trillion, followed by Switzerland with $897.6 billion, India with $670.6 billion, and Russia with $602 billion.