SEOUL, May 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign reserves logged a five-year low in April due to an expanded FX swap deal with the national pension fund, central bank data showed Thursday.
Foreign currency reserves tumbled 4.99 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 404.67 billion dollars at the end of April, marking the lowest in five years since April 2020, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The sharp reduction was attributed to 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 won/dollar exchange rate has hovered around 1,400 won per dollar since December 2024.
The dollar index, which gauges the dollar value versus six major peers, dropped 4.6 percent in April.
The country's foreign reserves were composed of 356.50 billion dollars of securities, 23.23 billion dollars of deposits, 15.68 billion dollars of special drawing rights, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion and 4.47 billion dollars of the IMF position.
South Korea ranked as the world's 10th-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of March, down one notch from a month earlier. ■
