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Singaporeans heading over to South Korea for holiday, heads up: The South Korean won has been weakening against the Singapore dollar over the past three months.

The exchange rate is now S$1 to 1,001 won.

Three months ago in late January, it was S$1 to 935 won.

The won hit its historic low against the Singapore dollar in late October 2022, when the exchange rate was S$1 to 1,016 won.

South Korean economy sluggish

It was reported that the South Korean won fell to the weakest level against the U.S. dollar in almost five month, owing to a sustained drop in exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy that added to the bearish outlook.

Exports of semiconductors, South Korea's top foreign sales item, tumbled 39.3 per cent, while shipments to China, South Korea’s largest overseas market, dropped 26.8 per cent during the April 1-20 period.

Previously, in February 2023, the won depreciated 7.4 per cent, the largest loss among 34 currencies.

Against the U.S. dollar, the won has been on a rollercoaster ride.

This was after the won appeared to have been making an impressive recovery from November 2022 to January 2023.

As per Bloomberg on April 3, the won does not appear to be making any recovery anytime soon, and might even continue weakening.

This is due to the dividend payment season in April each year, where overseas investors take dividends out of the country -- effectively trading won for other currencies, and increasing the supply of won.

Expected handouts to foreign investors at the top 10 Korean companies with the largest dividends allotted to global funds are at least 4.59 trillion won (US$3.53 billion), as per Bloomberg.

Top photo via Google