SEOUL, June 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign reserves fell for the second consecutive month, central bank data showed Thursday.
Foreign currency reserves dwindled 0.07 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 404.60 billion dollars at the end of May after tumbling 4.99 billion dollars in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It marked the lowest in over five years since April 2020 on the back of the BOK's increased FX swap contract with the National Pension Service (NPS).
The NPS, manager of the country's public pension fund, borrowed dollar funds through the swap contract to invest abroad, not buying dollars in the foreign exchange market, to mitigate volatility in the won/dollar exchange rate.
The country's foreign reserves were composed of 359.97 billion dollars of securities, 19.69 billion dollars of deposits, 15.68 billion dollars of special drawing rights, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion and 4.46 billion dollars of the IMF position.
South Korea was ranked as the world's 10th-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of April, unchanged from a month earlier. ■
