Foreign currency deposits held by South Korea hit a fresh high of $463.9 billion in August upon adding increased special drawing rights (SDR) allocation from the International Monetary Fund, data showed.

According to the Bank of Korea on Friday, the outstanding balance of foreign currency deposits stood at $463.9 billion as of end-August, up $5.25 billion from the previous record high set in July.

The country’s forex coffers extended the record-breaking streak to a second straight month on new SDR allocation and profit gains from foreign currency-denominated asset investment, a central bank official explained.

It received $11.69 billion worth of SDR from the IMF last month in line with the organization’s $650 billion global liquidity push aimed at helping countries cope with the fallout of Covid-19. The allocation has raised Korea’s SDR holdings from $3.5 billion to $15.3 billion.

Securities gained $3.4 billion from the previous month to $418.3 billion, accounting for 90.2 percent of the FX reserves.

Deposits came to $20.9 billion, off $9.82 billion on month, and the reserve position, or reserve tranche purchases a member may claim from the IMF, shed $20 million to $4.65 billion.

Gold holdings remained unchanged at $4.79 billion.

Korea was the eighth largest holder of foreign exchange reserves as of the end of July. China topped the list with $3.23 trillion, followed by Japan at $1.38 trillion and Switzerland $1.08 trillion.

By Lee Soo-min

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