SEOUL, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s foreign reserves grew for the fifth straight month in October due to higher return on investment and the issuance of foreign exchange stabilization fund bonds, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Foreign currency reserves advanced 6.80 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 428.82 billion dollars at the end of October, continuing to go up since June, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The consecutive growth was attributed to the higher investment return and the sale of foreign exchange stabilization fund bonds amounting to 1.7 billion dollars.
The foreign exchange stabilization fund bonds are sold to raise necessary funds to keep foreign exchange rates stable.
The country’s foreign reserves were composed of 377.96 billion dollars of securities, 25.94 billion dollars of deposits, 15.71 billion dollars of special drawing rights, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion and 4.41 billion dollars of the IMF position.
The Asian country ranked the world’s ninth-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of September, up one notch from a month earlier.
