S. Korea’s foreign reserves hit 5-yr low in Dec. amid strong dollar

South Korea’s foreign reserves rose from a month earlier in December but reached the lowest level in five years in terms of year-end reading, central bank data showed Monday.

The country’s foreign reserves came to US$415.6 billion as of end-December, up $21 million from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The growth was attributable to the increase in the value of deposits of financial institutions, as well as their “rising operating return,” a BOK official said.

Foreign securities, such as U.S. Treasuries, were valued at $366.7 billion as of end-December, down $5.72 billion from a month earlier. They accounted for 88.2 percent of foreign reserves.

The value of deposits, however, rose 6.1 percent to $25.2 billion as of the end of last month.

Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, special drawing rights and gold bullion.

The end-December reading, however, marked a sharp decline from $420.15 billion tallied at end-2023 and the lowest year-end reading since 2019, when the figure came to $408.82 billion.

The BOK attributed the on-year decline to the authorities’ responses to the recent volatility in the foreign exchange market.

The local currency dropped to the lowest level in nearly 16 years of below 1,460 won against the U.S. dollar in December amid domestic political chaos and the continued strengthening of the greenback.

The dollar index that gauges the greenback’s value against major peers rose about 2 percent last month.

South Korea ranked as the world’s ninth-largest holder of foreign reserves at end-December.

China topped the list, followed by Japan, then Switzerland, India and Russia, the data showed.