The country's foreign reserves late last month reached USD 413.51 billion, up USD 1.3 billion from June. Shown are piles of greenbacks at the Counterfeit Notes Response Center of Hana Bank in Seoul's Jung-gu District. (Yonhap News)

By Gil Kyuyoung

The nation's foreign reserves last month rose for the first time in four months.

According to the Bank of Korea's report on the country's foreign currency holdings as of late July, the figure of USD 413.51 billion was USD 1.3 billion higher than in June.

This was the first rise in the figure in four months thanks to newly issued foreign exchange stabilization bonds denominated in other currencies. Also having an impact was the weaker greenback causing an increase in the converted value of foreign reserve assets in other currencies.

By asset type, securities accounted for USD 367.5 billion of the figure, up USD 3.07 billion from the previous year, and special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund USD 14.95 billion, up USD 300 million. Gold remained the same at USD 4.79 billion but deposits fell nearly USD 2.1 billion to USD 22.35 billion.

As of late June, the nation's foreign currency reserves ranked ninth in the world. The top three spots went to China with USD 3.22 trillion, Japan USD 1.23 trillion and Switzerland USD 883.8 billion in that order.

gilkyuyoung@korea.kr