South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves soared to a fresh high in March due mainly to increased gains from asset management, the central bank said Tuesday.

The country’s foreign reserves reached a record high of $315.95 billion at the end of last month, up $150 million from February, according to the Bank of Korea.

The previous record was $315.8 billion set in February this year. Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its foreign reserves surpass the $300 billion mark for the first time in April 2011 amid sustained inflows of foreign capital and robust exports.

The central bank said gains from asset management increased, although dollar conversion values of yen and euro-denominated assets declined.

Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, along with the International Monetary Fund reserve positions, special drawing rights and gold bullion.

The amount of the central bank’s gold bullion stayed unchanged at $2.17 billion from the end of February.

As of end-February, South Korea was the world’s seventh-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves. 

(Yonhap News)