SEOUL (Reuters). – South Korea’s foreign currency reserves in U.S. Dollars shrank in April due to the strength of the dollar and the intervention by authorities. Data was released on Wednesday.

The Bank of Korea reported that the nation’s foreign reserves were at $449.30 trillion as of April 31st, a drop of $8.51B from $457.81 the month prior.

This was the largest monthly drop in foreign currency reserves in U.S. Dollars since March 2020.

According to Bank of Korea, they cited the weakness in dollar strength and said “measures were taken to reduce volatility in the foreign currency market”. This phrase is often used as a description of government intervention.

It didn’t elaborate further on the intervention.

Last month’s 3.5% decline in the won against the U.S. Dollar was the fastest fall of any monthly since October 2016.