South Korea's foreign reserves hit new high

South Korea's foreign reserves hit a record high last month due to an increase in the conversion value of non-dollar assets and a continued rise in investment returns, central bank data showed Monday.

 

Foreign reserves gained $3.27 billion from a month earlier to $329.71 billion as of the end of July, topping the previous record high of $328.91 billion in January, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK), Xinhua reported.

 

The appreciation of non-dollar currencies raised the conversion value of non-dollar assets. The continued gain in management returns of foreign reserves also contributed to rising reserves denominated in the greenback.

 

The Euro appreciated 1.8% to the dollar in July, and the Japanese yen rose 0.4% versus the greenback last month.

 

As of the end of June, South Korea was the world's seventh-largest holder of foreign reserves following China, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan and Brazil.

 

The reserves in South Korea stayed above the $300 billion mark since April 2011 when it topped the level for the first time in history.

 

The foreign reserves consisted of $301.34 billion of securities, $17.55 billion of deposits, $4.79 billion of gold bullion, $3.42 billion of special drawing rights (SDR) and $2.6 billion of International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions.