Bank of Korea’s Foreign-Asset Returns Rise to 16.9 Trillion Won
Returns from the central bank’s overseas assets increased 32 percent in 2025 as a weaker won and rising stock markets lifted investment income.
South Korea’s central bank generated 16.9 trillion won ($12.5 billion) in returns from foreign assets in 2025, a 32 percent increase from the previous year, according to data from the Bank of Korea.
The figures, submitted to a lawmaker from the main opposition People Power Party, show how exchange-rate movements and stronger equity markets lifted the won-denominated value of the central bank’s overseas portfolio. The Bank of Korea attributed the increase to the won’s weakness against the dollar and gains in stock markets.
Foreign-asset income can come from several channels, including securities holdings, interest on bank deposits, dividends and proceeds from stock sales. Because those earnings are measured in won, a weaker Korean currency can raise the domestic-currency value of income generated in dollars and other foreign currencies. Market gains can add a second boost by increasing investment returns.
The 2025 result extended a sharp recovery from the low recorded three years earlier. Annual returns were around 8 trillion won between 2016 and 2018 and rose to 13.8 trillion won in 2021. They then fell to 3.9 trillion won in 2022 before recovering to 4.9 trillion won in 2023 and surging to 12.8 trillion won in 2024.
That progression puts the latest total at the highest level among the years disclosed in the data. It also marks an increase of 4.1 trillion won from 2024, underscoring the scale of the rebound since 2022. Compared with the 2022 low, the 2025 figure was more than four times as large.
The figures provide a financial snapshot of how global market conditions can affect the central bank’s balance sheet even when its core responsibilities remain focused on monetary and financial stability. Returns can vary considerably from year to year as currency values, interest income and asset prices move.
The composition of the returns also means the headline total should be read as the combined outcome of several market forces rather than as the result of a single investment. Securities, deposits, dividends and asset sales can each respond differently to changes in interest rates, exchange rates and global share prices.
The Bank of Korea had already outlined the main drivers of the gain in its 2025 annual report, released in March. The newly disclosed total consolidates the effect of the weaker won and the stock-market rally on its foreign-asset income for the full year.