As of May this year, Korea's foreign exchange reserves ranking was overtaken by Singapore to 13th, the Bank of Korea said on the 3rd. After being pushed out of the top 10 in February when it was surpassed by Italy and France, the ranking fell again in three months. It is seen as due to an $880 million decrease in reserves after signing a foreign exchange swap in which dollars are lent to the National Pension Service and won are received.
According to the Bank of Korea, as of May, Singapore's foreign exchange reserves were $430.1 billion, up $2.9 billion from the previous month, overtaking Korea to place 12th. During this period, Korea fell by $880 million to $427.0 billion.
During the same period, France (11th) fell $7.8 billion to $441.6 billion, Hong Kong (10th) rose $3.7 billion to $445.9 billion, and Italy (9th) fell $4.0 billion to $452.2 billion. China ranked first at $3.4422 trillion, up $31.7 billion. Japan (2nd) fell $77.1 billion to $1.3059 trillion, and Switzerland (3rd) fell $5.6 billion to $1.0767 trillion.
Meanwhile, as of June, Korea's foreign exchange reserves were $427.36 billion, up $370 million from the previous month. The Bank of Korea said it was due to the extension of the period for temporarily paying interest to financial institutions that deposit foreign currency deposits above the legal ratio. A Bank of Korea official said, "There was also an effect from the tendency of financial institutions to make larger deposit placements to manage financial ratios at the end of the half-year."
June foreign exchange reserves consist of $380.34 billion in securities (89%), $22.27 billion in deposits (5.2%), $15.64 billion in special drawing rights (SDR) (3.7%), $4.79 billion in gold (1.1%), and $4.31 billion in International Monetary Fund (IMF) position (1%). The IMF position refers to IMF-related claim held through paid-in investment by IMF member countries.