S. Korea's foreign reserves grow to 312.38 bln USD in June

SEOUL, July 3 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign reserves grew in June to 312.38 billion U.S. dollars due to a rise in conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets and a growth in investment returns, the central bank said Tuesday.

Foreign reserves reached 312.38 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of June, up 1.51 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The June figure neared to the current record high of 316.84 billion U.S. dollars tallied in April. The reserves stayed above the 300 billion U.S. dollar mark since April 2011 when it topped the mark for the first time.

The 300 billion U.S. dollars are regarded as the psychologically-important level to protect the local financial market from the foreign capital exodus that may come from the potential financial crisis.

The June increase was attributed to a rise in conversion value of non-dollar assets such as the European single currency and the British pound that appreciated against the U.S. dollar. The growth in investment returns also contributed to the reserves' expansion, said the bank.

The country's foreign reserves consisted of 285.5 billion U.S. dollars of securities, 18.7 billion U.S. dollars of deposits, 3.46 billion U.S. dollars of special drawing right (SDR), 2.55 billion U.S. dollars of International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions and 2. 17 billion U.S. dollars of gold bullion.

As of the end of May, South Korea was the world's seventh- largest holder of foreign reserves following China, Japan, Russia, China's Taiwan, Switzerland and Brazil.

Email Story    Printable View    Blog Story    Copy Headline/URL