S. Korea, IMF discuss ways of revealing currency market intervention

Published : Apr 20, 2018 - 09:38 Updated : Apr 20, 2018 - 09:38

South Korea's chief economic policymaker discussed currency market-related issues, such as how to reveal records of its market interventions, with the International Monetary Fund, the finance ministry here said Friday.

Seoul said earlier that the country is considering the detailed disclosure of its interventions in the foreign exchange market as part of a broader move to boost transparency and clear itself of suspicion of exercising undue influence on exchange rates.

South Korea's financial authorities have persistently claimed they do not interfere in the foreign exchange market but engage in "smoothing operations" against extreme one-sided movements.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde holds a press conference during the 2018 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group at IMF Headquarters in Washington, DC, April 19, 2018. (AFP-Yonhap)

On the sideline of the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Washington, on Thursday (local time), South Korean finance minister Kim Dong-yeon discussed the issue with the IMF's chief, Christine Lagarde.

Kim told Lagarde that the Seoul government is working on a set of measures to boost transparency of its currency market.

Responding to this, Lagarde said revealing the records of currency market operations is helpful to macroeconomic stability, according to the ministry.

The minister is also set to meet US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to discuss the same issue later this week.

Last week, Washington kept South Korea on its "monitoring list" but did not designate it as a currency manipulator.

Washington has vowed to aggressively keep tabs on and combat unfair currency practices, saying the US cannot and will not bear the burden of an international trading system that, it claims, unfairly disadvantages American exports and gives an edge to its trading partners. (Yonhap)