By Park Hyong-ki
Staff Reporter
Assets in dollars account for about 65 percent of the country's foreign reserves, said the Bank of Korea (BOK).
This is the first time the central bank has disclosed its assets in dollars, but did not reveal its assets in other currencies such as the euro, yen and pound.
The BOK, which manages its foreign reserves, said in a 2007 report that of $262.2 billion in foreign reserves, it managed a total of $261.8 billon by investing in stocks and bonds.
Investments in stocks and bonds accounted for 93 percent of $261.8 billion in management, while the rest are on deposit, it said.
Its investment portfolio last year included government and corporate bonds, asset-backed securities and common stocks. Investments in common stocks are managed by the Korea Investment Corp., the country's manager of sovereign wealth funds.
Investments in treasuries, bonds issued by state-run entities and corporate bonds took a lion's share of its investment management ― treasuries accounted for 35.5 percent, bonds by state-owned companies 28.8 percent, and corporate bonds 15.4 percent.
Investments in asset-backed securities accounted for 11.6 percent, followed by stocks for 1.3 percent.
But the central bank noted that it has been increasing its securities investments. Investing in bonds is considered safer than stocks, but investing in stocks gives higher returns in the long-term, analysts say.
``We have been diversifying our investment portfolio to offset risks concerning foreign exchange by seeking products that give higher yields with the country's foreign reserve holdings,'' said the central bank.
phk@koreatimes.co.kr