FX reserves rise to US$96.2 billion, 5th largest in world

The nation`s foreign exchange reserves topped US$96.2 billion as of the end of December, the fifth largest amount in the world, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday.

It¡¯s an increase of US$2.8 billion from the previous month and up US$22.15 billion from the end of 1999, the central bank said.

A BOK spokesman said the gain was attributed to an rise of US$11 billion in the current account surplus and about US$11.6 billion in foreign investments in the Korean stock market.

The increase of US$9.04 billion in the foreign currency repayments to the BOK by local banks last year also contributed to the sharp rise in dollar reserves, the spokesman added.

Foreign exchange holdings exceeded US$90 billion after topping US$74 billion at the end of 1999 and US$90.1 billion at the end of June last year.

Meanwhile, Japan¡¯s foreign currency reserves amounted to US$354.6 billion as of the end of last November, the largest in the world, followed by China with US$160.1 billion, Taiwan with US$108.2 billion and Hong Kong with US$104.2 billion.

Hong Chan-Sun hcs@donga.com