South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves rise to 403.69 billion dollars

MEDIA IN -SAUL, Jan. 4 (Xinhua)
South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves rose to a record high last December to $ 403.69 billion, up $ 710 million from a month earlier.
The Central Bank of Korea attributed the rise to the weakness of the US dollar, adding to the value of other currencies when converted into the US currency.
The foreign exchange reserves consist of foreign currency securities and deposits, as well as IMF, SDR and gold bullion deposits, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency reported.
The value of foreign securities such as government bonds and institutional debt was $ 379.6 billion last month, up $ 3.35 billion from November, while foreign currency deposits fell $ 2.79 billion on a monthly basis to $ 13.73 billion in December.
IMF reserves stood at $ 2.14 billion at the end of December, while the share of gold bullion remained unchanged at $ 4.79 billion over the same period, the central bank said.
It is noteworthy that as of the end of November, South Korea ranked eighth in the world in terms of volume of foreign exchange reserves topped China’s list.