[서울신문] Last year’s foreign exchange reserves of $431.3 billion… Recorded record high for 7 consecutive months

In December of last year, foreign exchange reserves exceeded 440 billion dollars, breaking the record high.

According to the Bank of Korea’s’exchange reserves at the end of December 2020′ on the 6th, the amount of foreign exchange reserves at the end of December of last year was $431.3 billion, an increase of $6.72 billion from the previous year. Not only has it increased for 9 consecutive months since April of last year, but it has reached a record high for 7 consecutive months since June of last year. The BOK explained that “the amount of foreign currency reserves increased due to the increase in dollar conversion of foreign currency assets denominated in other currencies due to the weakening of the US dollar, the increase in reserves for payment of financial institutions, and profits from the management of foreign currency assets.”

Last year, the annual increase in foreign exchange reserves was $3.28 billion, the highest in 11 years since 2009 ($68.72 billion), just after the financial crisis.

Securities, which make up the majority of all assets, were $4,098.4 billion, up $15.2 billion in a month. The’IMF position’, an exchangeable currency withdrawal right for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), increased by $420 million to $4.82 billion, and the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR) increased by $150 million to $3.37 billion. Was. Deposits in banks declined from $22.9 billion at the end of November to $22.8 billion at the end of December, the only decline in the total assets.

As of the end of November last year, Korea’s foreign exchange reserves were $436.4 billion, ranking 9th in the world. The first place China owns 3,178.5 billion dollars, the second place Japan has a total of 1.38 trillion dollars, and the third place Switzerland has a total of 13.3 million dollars.

Reporter Seung-Hoon Kim [email protected]