South Korea’s foreign reserves increased slightly in December from a month earlier, although some of those reserves were used to mitigate volatility amid the sharp depreciation of the local currency against the dollar. 

According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Monday, the nation’s foreign currency reserves stood at 415-point-six billion dollars as of the end of December, up 210 million dollars from a month earlier.

The figure stayed above 410 billion dollars, amid concerns about increased volatility in the foreign exchange market ever since the martial law decree in early December. 
  
The BOK attributed the rise to the increase in the value of deposits at financial institutions, as well as their rising operating returns, despite the decreased value of non-dollar assets due to the strong dollar and measures to mitigate volatility in the foreign exchange market. 

However, the year-end figure was the lowest since 2019, when foreign reserves totaled 408-point-82 billion dollars. 

As of the end of November, South Korea ranked ninth in the world in terms of foreign exchange reserves, with China topping the list at over three trillion dollars, followed by Japan, Switzerland and India.