The Republic of Korea's foreign reserves rose from a month earlier in December but reached the lowest level in five years in terms of year-end reading, central bank data showed Monday.

Yonhap quoted data from the Bank of Korea (BOK) as saying that the country's foreign reserves came to US$415.6 billion as of end-December, up $21 million from a month earlier.

The growth was attributable to the increase in the value of deposits of financial institutions, as well as their "rising operating return," a BOK official said.

The end-December reading, however, marked a sharp decline from $420.15 billion tallied at end-2023 and the lowest year-end reading since 2019, when the figure came to $408.82 billion.

The BOK attributed the on-year decline to the authorities' responses to the recent volatility in the foreign exchange market.