SEOUL – South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves increased slightly in July, central bank data showed on Wednesday, ending four straight months of decreases led partly by authorities’ dollar-selling intervention to support the won.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves, measured in U.S. dollars, increased in July by $0.33 billion to reach $438.61 billion at the end of the month, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.
It was the first monthly increase after a combined $23.49 billion decrease over the last four months and only a second one since October 2021.
The BOK said the increase resulted from foreign asset investment returns and an increase in financial institutions’ foreign currency deposits that offset a decrease in converted value of non-dollar assets.
The won weakened less than 0.1% against U.S. dollar in July, following a 4.7% slump in the previous month.
(The story corrects to add ‘billion’ to dollar amount in 3rd paragraph.)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Michael Perry)