South Korea's foreign reserves rise for 2nd straight Month

South Korea's foreign reserves rose for the second consecutive month in April.

    Bank of Korea (BOK) statistics unveiled on Wednesday showed South Korea's reserves were worth about 372.5 billion US dollars at the end of last month, 2.64 billion dollars higher than in March.

    Foreign reserves declined for five straight months from October last year, when reserves were worth 369.6 billion dollars. Reserves fell to 368.4 billion dollars in November last year, and continued to fall until February this year, according to Korea's (KBS WORLD) radio.

    Increased returns in the BOK's foreign reserve investments and stronger foreign currencies including the Japanese yen and the British pound appear to be behind the nominal rise in the bank’s dollar-denominated foreign reserves.

    The amount of South Korea's foreign reserves is the seventh largest in the world. China’s foreign reserve war chest remains the largest, making up about 3.2 trillion dollars as of last month, 10.3 billion dollars more than the month before.

    Japan came second with about 1.2 trillion dollars. Switzerland ranked third with 649 billion dollars, followed by Saudi Arabia with 587 billion, Taiwan with 431.6 billion and Russia with 387 billion dollars.