By IANS,
Seoul : South Korea’s foreign reserves grew for the first time in three months in January due to a rise in conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets and an increase in investment profits, the central bank said Thursday.
Foreign reserves reached $311.34 billion as of the end of January, up $4.94 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The reserves expanded for the first time since October last year when the figure grew $7.59 billion on an on-month basis. The January increase sent the nation’s reserves close to an all-time high of $312.19 billion tallied in August last year, reported Xinhua.
The BOK mainly attributed the January growth to rising conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets such as the Europe’s shared currency and the British pound as well as an increase in investment profits.
The country’s foreign reserves consisted of $285.25 billion of securities, $17.85 billion of deposits, $3.49 billion of special drawing right (SDR), $2.58 billion of International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions and $2.17 billion of gold bullion.