South Korea's Foreign Currency Reserves Fall to $247.52 Billion

By William Sim

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea's foreign-exchange reserves declined for a fourth month in July because of a stronger dollar and the central bank's intervention in the currency market.

The nation's reserves dropped to $247.52 billion last month from $258.1 billion in June, the Bank of Korea said in a statement released in Seoul today. A stronger U.S. currency decreased the value of assets in euros and other currencies when converted into dollars, the bank said.

The won jumped 3.4 percent last month, the biggest monthly gain since January 2006, as the central bank bought the local currency with its dollar reserves to help reduce imports costs and tame inflation, which accelerated to the fastest in almost a decade in July.

South Korea ranks sixth after China, Japan, Russia, India and Taiwan among the world's largest holders of foreign exchange, according to central bank data.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Sim in Seoul at wsim2@bloomberg.net