Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea dropped from a month earlier in December, hitting the lowest level in 20 months, central bank data showed Monday.

Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by local residents came to $58.53 billion as of end-December, down $3.78 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.

The December tally marks the lowest level since April 2014 when the total stood at $58.42 billion. From a year earlier, the December figure marks a $2.58 billion fall.

Local residents include firms and foreign nationals who have stayed in the country for more than six months. The figure excludes inter-bank foreign currency deposits.

The on-month drop was attributed to a cut in savings in both U.S. dollar and Chinese yuan.

"Dollar deposits shrank due to a rise in withdrawals for yearend payments while deposits in Chinese yuan also dropped due to an increase in withdrawals of fixed deposits at maturity," the BOK said in a press release.

U.S. dollar-denominated deposits, which account for 80 percent of overall foreign currency deposits here, dropped $1.37 billion from the previous month to $47.25 billion as of end-December.

Chinese yuan-denominated deposits shrank $1.88 billion to $4.68 billion over the cited period.

Foreign currency deposits held by South Korean banks slipped $2.25 billion on-month to $46.16 billion while those held by local branches of foreign banks came to $12.37 billion, down $1.53 billion from the previous month. (Yonhap)