The Bank of Korea on May 7 said the country's foreign exchange reserves as of late last month reached USD 427.88 billion, up USD 4.22 billion from March. (Yonhap News)

By Yoo Yeon Gyeong

The Bank of Korea on May 7 said the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 427.88 billion as of late last month, an increase of USD 4.22 billion from March.

By asset type, securities such as government and corporate bonds took up the largest proportion with USD 384.07 billion (89.8%). Deposits comprised USD 18.76 billion (4.4%), the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) special drawing rights USD 15.81 billion (3.7%), gold USD 4.79 billion (1.1%) and the IMF's reserve positions USD 4.45 billion (1%).

The central bank attributed the rise in foreign exchange reserves "to the increase in the USD equivalent of foreign currency assets in other currencies and operating profits." This was due to growth in the USD equivalent of currencies such as the EUR, GBP and JPY held by the bank as the greenback's value declined against major currencies.

As of late March, Korea's foreign currency reserves ranked 12th in the world. China was No. 1 with USD 3.34 trillion, followed by Japan (USD 1.37 trillion) and Switzerland (USD 1.06 trillion). France was 10th with USD 445.4 billion and Hong Kong 11th with USD 430.8 billion.

dusrud21@korea.kr