SEOUL, Jun 3 (NNN-YONHAP) – South Korea’s foreign reserves hit a new record high last month, as weak U.S. dollar raised conversion value of non-dollar assets, central bank data showed today.
Foreign currency reserves reached a new high of 456.46 billion U.S. dollars at the end of May, up 4.15 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It came as the greenback’s depreciation lifted the conversion value of non-dollar assets, such as the European single currency and the British pound.
The dollar index, which measures the dollar value versus six major peers, declined 0.6 percent last month.
The country’s foreign reserves were composed of 414.05 billion dollars of securities, 29.44 billion dollars of deposits, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion, 3.54 billion dollars of special drawing rights (SDR) and 4.64 billion dollars of IMF position.
South Korea was the world’s eighth-largest holder of foreign reserves, as of the end of Apr, up one notch from the previous month.– NNN-YONHAP
