South Korea’s foreign reserves decreased by over four-and-a-half billion U.S. dollars in January, amid the appreciation of the dollar.

According to the Bank of Korea(BOK) on Wednesday, the nation’s foreign currency reserves stood at 411 billion dollars as of the end of January, down four-point-58 billion dollars from a month earlier.

It is the lowest figure since June 2020, when it posted 410-point-seven billion dollars, and marks the steepest decline since April last year. 

The BOK attributed the fall to a decrease in foreign currency deposits at financial institutions and the government’s measures to ease volatility in the foreign exchange market. 

As of the end of December, 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.