S. Korea to finalize dollar bond sale this week: finance minister

SEOUL, April 8 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government will finalize
dollar-denominated debt sales within the week as market conditions improved,
driving down overall borrowing costs, a top policymaker said Wednesday.
"North Korea's latest rocket launch did not increase geopolitical risk," Finance
Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun told a parliamentary interpellation session. "As
uncertainties were lifted, we are currently pushing to issue foreign
currency-denominated bonds.
He added that the bond sale will be finalized by "today or tomorrow."
On Tuesday, the government picked six financial agencies including Goldman Sachs
Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Samsung Securities, to manage the bond sale.
The exact size and timetable have yet to be unveiled but market observers
forecast a debt sale of around $2 billion.
The move comes after the government failed to raise $1 billion in overseas
markets in September last year when the global financial market tumbled in the
wake of the collapse of U.S. investment giant Lehman Brothers.
Yoon said that the economy, Asia's fourth-largest, will likely show signs of
recovery starting later this year or early next year as predicted by major
international institutes.
Buffeted by slumping domestic demand and falling exports, South Korea's economy
is expected to shrink 2 percent this year, the first negative growth since the
1997-98 financial meltdown.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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