Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said on Thursday that the nation is unlikely to see a foreign currency crisis although its foreign reserves shrank the most in September, marking a record since the 2008 financial crisis. 

The Bank of Korea said earlier on Thursday that the nation's foreign currency reserves totaled 416-point-77 billion dollars as of the end of last month, down 19-point-66 billion dollars from a month earlier. It’s the steepest decline since a drop of 27-point-four billion dollars in October 2008.

Minister Choo dismissed the possibility of a foreign currency crisis in relation to the sharp decline. 

He said that since 2008, the nation’s reserves have significantly increased to over 430 billion dollars, and in terms of the ratio, the 19-point-six billion dollars drop is relatively small compared to 2008.

The minister reaffirmed his earlier projection that the prices will peak around October. 

However, he presented a grim prospect for next year, saying that difficulties will continue through the first half of next year. 

The minister expected a current account deficit for August, with the official data to be released on Friday.