The nation’s finance minister and central bank chief agreed on Tuesday that uncertainties were increasing due to a weaker yen and advanced economies’ possible early exit from quantitative easing.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok and Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo also shared the need for the government to closely monitor capital flows prone to increasing risks of volatility.
The nation’s two finance leaders met over a casual breakfast to review and discuss the latest issues concerning global finance, and Korea’s monetary and fiscal policies.
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| Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok (left) meets Bank of Korea chief Kim Choong-soo over breakfast at a restaurant in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, on Tuesday. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald) |
This marks their first official meeting since Hyun was appointed the first finance minister and deputy prime minister of the Park Geun-hye administration.
Hyun and Kim saw eye-to-eye over the importance of job growth by increasing the number of quality jobs, including part-time jobs that can lead workers to gain regular, full-time employment.
This would eventually help Korea to revive its sluggish job market where the employment rate has been struggling to stay around 50-60 percent over the last 10 years, despite brisk exports and growth.
Priority should be given to boosting job creation, which in turn will sustain the economy in the long-run, the two finance leaders said, according to a press statement by the Bank of Korea.
This is also in line with President Park’s key policy pledge of achieving an employment rate of 70 percent within her term through fiscal stimulus and the development of a creative economy aimed at supporting the venture start-up industry.
Hyun said sustaining jobs was a worldwide concern among advanced economies of the OECD, and this global trend was inevitably going to put job growth over GDP growth on the priority list.
Kim suggested devising a forward-looking and long-term policy of encouraging female workers to increase their economic participation as a means to improve the job market.
The BOK governor also said that the central bank would do its part to make sure expanded credit reached tech-driven venture firms.
Its monetary policy will support the stabilization of consumer prices and support the implementation of fiscal measures aimed at boosting private investment and revitalizing the housing market in the latter half of this year.
The central bank’s rate cut last month was seen as lending a hand to the government’s fiscal stimulus, despite the BOK’s opposition to a lower rate pushed by the Park administration.
The two financiers are said to be really close. They went to the same high school, college and got their Ph. Ds at the University of Pennsylvania. Also, both served as the president of Korea Development Institute, a state-run economic policy think tank.
By Park Hyong-ki (
hkp@heraldcorp.com)
