South Korea's foreign currency holdings rose 4.8 billion U.S. dollars, largest monthly amount in two years, in March mainly due to the strong yen and euro against the U.S. dollar, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Thursday, Xinhua reported.
According to the BOK, South Korea's foreign currency reserve amounted to 206.34 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of March 2009, up 4.8 billion U.S. dollars from 201.54 billion U.S. dollars a month earlier.
The increase in the nation's foreign currency holdings in March comes as the strong yen and euro raised the dollar conversion value of assets denominated in those currencies, the BOK said.
The BOK also pointed to higher investment profits and the national pension fund's repayment of its foreign loans worth 0.5 billion U.S. dollars as possible causes of the March foreign currency rise.
As of end-March, the nation's foreign currency reserve is mostly composed of securities, which take up 89.3 percent of the total amount with 184.24 billion U.S. dollars, followed by deposits, which take up 10.4 percent with 21.39 billion U.S. dollars.
As of the end of February 2009, South Korea's foreign currency reserve remained at its previous rank, 6th in the world, following China, Japan, Russia, China's Taiwan province, and India.
