The Bank of Korea on May 6 said in a report that foreign exchange reserves last month reached a record-high USD 452.31 billion. (Yonhap News)

By Lee Jihye and Kim Minji

Foreign exchange reserves late last month set another record high.

The Bank of Korea on May 6 said in a report that the reserves at the end of April reached USD 452.31 billion, up USD 6.18 billion from USD 446.13 billion in late March.

The figure in February reached a then record USD 447.56 billion, declined the next month and set another mark in April. 

The central bank attributed the rise to the effect of the weakening USD in raising the value of other foreign currencies when converted into the greenback and increased revenue from foreign currency assets.

By asset type, securities like government, public agency and corporate bonds accounted for 91.1% of the reserves with USD 412.07 billion, deposits 6% with USD 27.22 billion, gold holdings 1.1% with USD 4.79 billion and special drawing rights mandated by the International Monetary Fund 1% with USD 4.69 billion.

As of March, Korea ranked ninth worldwide in foreign currency holdings. China led with USD 7.17 trillion, Japan was second with USD 1.368 trillion and Switzerland third with USD 1.052 trillion. 

shaadiya1223@korea.kr