By DPA
Tokyo : Japan’s foreign reserves rose to a new record in March, exceeding $1 trillion, the finance ministry said Monday.
The nation’s foreign exchange reserves, the world’s second largest next to China, totalled $1.02 trillion at the end of March, up $7.61 billion from a month earlier.
China ranked first with $1.53 trillion, and Russia followed Japan with $465.2 billion.
The rise in the foreign reserves was driven by interest income from deposits and bond holdings such as US Treasuries.
Increases in the dollar-quoted value of euro-denominated assets also contributed to a rise in Europe’s single currency against the dollar in the foreign exchange market, the ministry said.
Japan’s foreign securities increased to $866.96 billion at the end of March 31, while its foreign currency deposits fell to $120.71 billion.
Japan held $6.41 billion of the total deposits in foreign central banks and the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements, $26.02 billion in Japanese banks and $88.28 billion in foreign financial institutions.
Gold reserves came to $22.97 billion.
The nation had $1.4 billion in IMF reserve positions and $3.18 billion in IMF special drawing rights.
Japan’s foreign exchange reserves consist mainly of securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, IMF special drawing rights and gold.