Sol, 23 June (IANS). Four months later in South Korea recorded an increase in foreign currency deposits. The increase was mainly due to the amount deposited in securities firms and the funds placed by companies temporarily for investment abroad. Bank of Korea (BOK) gave this information in the latest data released on Monday.
According to the Bank of Korea’s data, the foreign exchange deposit amount kept by the residents by the end of May was US $ 101.36 billion, which was $ 5.1 billion more than a month ago. According to Bank of Korea, residents include South Korean citizens, foreign nationals and foreign companies living in the country for more than six months.
According to the report by news agency Yonhap, this figure has increased for the first time since January. The latest BOK data does not include the interbank foreign exchange deposit.
According to the data, corporate forex deposits increased by $ 4.6 billion in a month to $ 87.01 billion, while individual holdings increased by $ 500 to $ 14.35 billion.
The amount deposited in the dollar rose $ 4.54 billion to $ 85.54 billion. BOK said the boom was due to temporary storage of investors in securities firms and temporary keeping foreign investment funds of companies.
There was no significant change in the deposits in the euro, causing it to remained stable at $ 5.09 billion. The amount deposited in the Japanese yen increased by $ 56 million, leading to $ 8.43 billion. The amount of deposits in Chinese yuan fell by $ 19 million and it decreased to $ 98 million. The bank said that this was mainly due to current transactions payments.
Meanwhile, Bank of Korea released another report, stating that the development pace of the country’s companies was slow in the first quarter of 2025. However, there was a slight improvement in financial stability.
According to data from the Bank of Korea, the joint sales of 23,137 companies under the external audit increased by 2.4 percent on an annual basis in the January-March period, slower by an increase of 3.5 percent in the previous quarter. Manufacturing sector companies recorded an increase of 2.8 percent in the first quarter, which was 3.8 percent in the same period last year. Non-manufacturing sector sales growth was 1.9 percent, which declined by 3.1 percent last year.
-IANS
DCH/Ekde
