Bank of Korea stops publishing global foreign-reserves rankings, says it is not hiding unfavorable data

For the first time in 25 years, the Bank of Korea has left South Korea's place in the global foreign-reserves table out of its monthly release. The central bank had published the ranking every month since February 2001, but removed it from the statement on August-end reserves issued on Sept. 3.

The change immediately invited suspicion. South Korea ranked 10th at the end of July, and some questioned whether the Bank of Korea had dropped the table because a future decline could put pressure on foreign-exchange authorities. The bank rejected that interpretation, saying the information remains available through the International Monetary Fund's public database.

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A simple ranking that does not take into account the size of each country's economy or the ratio of short-term external-stabilization bonds has little analytical value.

The central bank offered a technical explanation for the decision. A simple country ranking does not account for the size of each economy or the ratio of short-term external-stabilization bonds, it said, making the result less useful for analysis. It also pointed to the way major central banks count gold after converting its value into U.S. dollars. With gold prices becoming more volatile, reserve rankings can shift for reasons that do not necessarily reflect broader reserve conditions.

The Bank of Korea said it would no longer include the rankings in its monthly materials. It maintained that the decision reflected the limits of the comparison, not an attempt to hide data that might reflect poorly on South Korea.

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The claim that this was intended to hide unfavorable information is not true.