South Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased for the second consecutive month in July, driven by the issuance of new foreign exchange bonds.
According to the Bank of Korea on August 5, the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at $427.95 billion at the end of July, up $5.9 billion from the previous month’s total of $427.36 billion. This marks the second consecutive month of growth.
A Bank of Korea official stated, "Despite foreign exchange swaps with the National Pension Service, the reserves saw a slight increase due to the issuance of new foreign exchange bonds, operational income, and the rise in the dollar-equivalent value of other foreign currency assets."
By asset type, deposits rose by $860 million to $23.13 billion. Special Drawing Rights (SDR) increased by $60 million to $15.7 billion, while the IMF position grew by $10 million to $4.32 billion.
Conversely, securities decreased by $340 million to $380.01 billion. Gold remained stable at $47.9 billion, reflecting its purchase price.
Recently, the Bank of Korea's foreign asset management division began purchasing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on gold in the second quarter and plans to acquire additional physical gold produced by domestic companies soon.
As of the end of June, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves ranked 10th in the world, surpassing Singapore, Italy, and France, moving up three spots from the previous month when it was ranked 13th. South Korea had fallen out of the top 10 in February but has returned after four months.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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