South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves reached a new record high at the end of December on the back of the weakening U.S. dollar.

According to data released by the Bank of Korea on Monday, the nation’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to $408.82 billion as of late December, up $1.36 billion from the previous high of a month earlier.

The bank attributed the gain to the weak U.S. dollar that pushed up the value of non-dollar nominated foreign assets.

By asset type, securities including government, public entity and corporate bonds grew $8.51 billion from the previous month to $385 billion. Deposits denominated in foreign currency slipped $7.31 billion to $12.85 billion, while gold reserve remained unchanged at $4.79 billion.

The special drawing rights (SDR) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declined $20 million from a month ago to $3.35 billion. The nation’s reserve position in the IMF came at gained $170 million to $2.79 billion.

Korea was the ninth largest holder of foreign exchange reserves as of the end of December. China topped the list with $3.09 trillion, followed by Japan at $1.32 trillion and Switzerland $836.6 billion.

By By Choi Mira

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