Trend of foreign exchange reserves / Source = Bank of Korea (2021.01.06)
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[한국금융신문 정선은 기자] Korea’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high again last month.
According to the’exchange reserves at the end of December 2020′ announced by the Bank of Korea on the 6th, the amount of foreign exchange reserves in Korea at the end of December 2020 was $431.3 billion, an increase of $6.72 billion from the end of the previous month.
The Bank of Korea explained, “It is due to the increase in US dollar translation of foreign currency assets denominated in other currencies due to the weakness of the US dollar, the increase in reserve deposits of financial institutions, and foreign currency asset management profits.”
Securities accounted for 92.5% of the total, accounting for $4,098 billion, the largest share. It consists of a deposit of $22.8 billion (4.6%), a gold of $4.79 billion (1.1%), an IMF position of $4.82 billion (1.1%), and an SDR of $3.37 billion (0.8%).
Looking at the trend of major currencies versus the dollar in December 2020, the euro rose 2.8%, the pound 2.2%, the yen 0.8%, and the Australian dollar appreciate 4.0%.
During December, the US dollar index fell 2.3% from 91.79 to 89.68.
As of the end of November 2020, Korea’s foreign exchange reserves ($436.4 billion) were ranked 9th in the world. The first place was China ($3,178.5 billion), followed by Japan ($1.38 trillion) and Switzerland ($1.365 trillion).
Reporter Jeong Sun-eun [email protected]