S. Korea to issue 77.7 tln won in Treasuries this year

SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will sell around 78 trillion won (US$68.6
billion) worth of Treasuries this year, the finance ministry said Thursday,
adding the market has the capacity to absorb the state debt.
Treasuries sales will amount to 77.7 trillion won this year, down from the
previous year's 85 trillion won, according to the Ministry of Strategy and
Finance.
"We believe that the market has the capacity to digest the debt but we will
respond by closely monitoring any changes in market conditions," the ministry
said in a statement.
The ministry said that it will stick to its principle of selling balanced amount
of debts every month, saying that it will assign a monthly average of 6.5
trillion won for such sales.
Bond buybacks and exchanges between newly-issued debts and old ones will also be
bolstered in order to increase market liquidity, it added.
In 2009, a total of 98.1 trillion won worth of state debts was issued, the
ministry said.
State debts include Treasuries and currency stabilization bonds denominated in a
foreign currency, of which the latter amounted to 3.5 trillion won last year,
compared with this year's plan to issue up to 2.3 trillion won, according to the
ministry.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
(END)