Fed announces currency swap line with S. Korea to help ease dollar funding By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- The Federal Reserve Wednesday announced a currency swap arrangement with South Korea to help ease dollar funding for the world's 13th-biggest economy amid the global financial crisis.

South Korea became the 10th country to establish a temporary reciprocal currency
arrangement with the U.S., and the first emerging economy to do that as
Washington maintains similar arrangements with the world's nine major advanced
economies, including Japan, the European Union and Britain.
In the most recent measure, the Fed announced Tuesday a currency swap measure of
up to US$15 billion with New Zealand in a show of solidarity as both nations
muddle through the financial meltdown initiated by the U.S. housing market bubble
bursting and then the subprime mortgage crisis.
The announcement comes amid reports that the International Monetary Fund is
establishing a similar currency swap measure to give emerging economies easier
access to hard currency to help them weather the current global financial crisis.
hdh@yna.co.kr