ID :
50066
Thu, 03/12/2009 - 07:03
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/50066
The shortlink copeid
S, Korea's money supply growth picks up in Jan.
SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- Growth of South Korea's money supply picked up in January as local firms' net debt sales expanded amid local banks' caution against increasing lending, the central bank said Wednesday.
The country's liquidity aggregate reached 2,303.5 trillion won (US$1.56 trillion)
as of the end of January, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier and accelerating
from a 10.6 percent gain the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea
(BOK).
The liquidity aggregate, the broadest measure of the nation's money supply,
covers currency in circulation, all types of deposits at financial institutions
and state and corporate bonds.
The BOK attributed January's faster gain in money supply to expanded net sales of
corporate debt instruments.
Meanwhile, the BOK said a narrower measure of the money supply called the M2
advanced 12 percent on-year in January, with its growth hitting a 13-month low.
The M2 covers currency in circulation and all types of deposits with maturity
less than two years at lenders and non-banking financial institutions, though not
with insurers and brokerage houses.
"The slowdown in M2 growth is due mainly to lenders tightening credit amid
increasing delinquency rates," Kim Hwa-yong, a bank official said.
In a separate report, the BOK said the gain in the M2 is estimated to have slowed
in February to around 11 percent as banks' lending growth moderated despite a
rise in the government's fiscal spending.
The data came a day before the BOK makes a monthly interest-rate decision. The
central bank is widely forecast to cut the key rate by 0.25 percentage point, a
smaller reduction than in previous months as a weak local currency triggers
inflationary concerns.
The BOK slashed the rate by half a percentage point to a record low of 2 percent
last month, cutting a total of 3.25 percentage points in a row to stave off an
economic downturn.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
The country's liquidity aggregate reached 2,303.5 trillion won (US$1.56 trillion)
as of the end of January, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier and accelerating
from a 10.6 percent gain the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea
(BOK).
The liquidity aggregate, the broadest measure of the nation's money supply,
covers currency in circulation, all types of deposits at financial institutions
and state and corporate bonds.
The BOK attributed January's faster gain in money supply to expanded net sales of
corporate debt instruments.
Meanwhile, the BOK said a narrower measure of the money supply called the M2
advanced 12 percent on-year in January, with its growth hitting a 13-month low.
The M2 covers currency in circulation and all types of deposits with maturity
less than two years at lenders and non-banking financial institutions, though not
with insurers and brokerage houses.
"The slowdown in M2 growth is due mainly to lenders tightening credit amid
increasing delinquency rates," Kim Hwa-yong, a bank official said.
In a separate report, the BOK said the gain in the M2 is estimated to have slowed
in February to around 11 percent as banks' lending growth moderated despite a
rise in the government's fiscal spending.
The data came a day before the BOK makes a monthly interest-rate decision. The
central bank is widely forecast to cut the key rate by 0.25 percentage point, a
smaller reduction than in previous months as a weak local currency triggers
inflationary concerns.
The BOK slashed the rate by half a percentage point to a record low of 2 percent
last month, cutting a total of 3.25 percentage points in a row to stave off an
economic downturn.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)
