SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) — Foreign currency deposits in South Korea rose in May for the first time in four months, the Bank of Korea (BOK) reported Monday. The increase was mainly due to higher deposits at securities firms and temporary placements of corporate overseas investment funds.
As of the end of May, foreign currency deposits held by residents totaled $101.36 billion, up $5.1 billion from April. This marks the first monthly rise since January.
The term “residents” includes South Korean citizens, foreigners living in the country for more than six months, and foreign companies. The data does not include deposits between banks.
Corporate deposits surged by $4.6 billion to $87.01 billion, while individual deposits grew by $500 million to $14.35 billion.
By currency, U.S. dollar deposits increased by $4.54 billion to $85.54 billion. This was mainly driven by more investor deposits at securities firms and temporary corporate overseas investment funds. Euro deposits stayed nearly the same at $5.09 billion.
Japanese yen deposits rose by $560 million to $8.43 billion. Meanwhile, Chinese yuan deposits fell by $190 million to $980 million, mainly due to payments for current transactions, the central bank said.
