BOK board to get four new members

The majority of the Bank of Korea’s seven-member policy board will be replaced Thursday, putting markets on edge for a potential change in Korea’s monetary policy stance amid troubles in the country‘s export-driven economy.

The four new members to join the interest-rate setting board are Lee Il-houng, the head of Korea Institute for International Economic Policy; Cho Dong-chul, the chief economist for state-run Korea Development Institute; Koh Seung-beom, the Standing Commissioner of Financial Services Commission; and Shin In-seok, the head of Korea Capital Market Institute. 

Among the four, Cho is by records a dove, preferring low interest rates to support economic growth, observers say. The rest are hard to identify and seem more neutral, they say.

The BOK on Tuesday left the base interest rate unchanged at the current all-time low of 1.5 percent, resisting calls from politicians to slash borrowing costs again to help jump-start the economy. The decision was in spite of a revision in the bank’s economic growth outlook for Korea from 3 percent expansion in 2016 to just 2.8 percent.

BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said rate cuts alone can’t provide a quick fix for the economy, as problems are more structural than cyclical, hinting that fiscal measures and restructuring efforts should come first.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)