BOK pledges to supply ample liquidity in timely manner

SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- The chief of South Korea's central bank repeated his pledge on Friday to provide sufficient liquidity to the financial system in a timely manner to help ease a credit crunch.
"In the (current) financial turmoil, local banks... also need to step up efforts
to stabilize the financial system," Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Lee Seong-tae said
in a meeting with the heads of nine local banks.
South Korean lenders have been suffering from cash shortages as they have faced
trouble in rolling over debt or raising funds amid the global financial turmoil.
The BOK said on Monday it would pump a combined 6.5 trillion won (US$5 billion)
in liquidity into the banking system this week by buying longer-dated repurchase
agreement deals.
The government and the central bank have supplied or plan to supply a combined
amount in excess of 130 trillion won in liquidity into the financial system.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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