Foreign currency deposits held by banks operating in South Korea rose 5 percent in February from a month earlier as exporters deposited their dollar-denominated earnings, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by local banks, domestic and foreign, reached $67.94 billion in February, up from $64.65 billion a month earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.

Broken down, foreign currency deposits held by domestic lenders rose 5.7 percent to $56.45 billion from $53.36 billion during the same period. The deposits by foreign banks gained 1.7 percent to $11.49 billion from $11.29 billion, it said.

Foreign deposits include those held by foreigners who have stayed in South Korea for more than six months, as well as foreign companies operating here.

The central bank attributed the month-on-month gains mainly to an increase in US dollar deposits by exporters.

By currency, dollar deposits rose to $57.98 billion in February from $55.23 billion a month earlier. Euro deposits rose to $3 billion from $2.7 billion. Yen deposits climbed to $4.2 billion from $3.9 billion, the data said.

By holder, companies held $56.62 billion in foreign currency deposits, up from $53.9 billion a month earlier. Deposits held by individuals rose to $11.32 billion from $10.75 billion, it said. (Yonhap)