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FSC Chairman Koh Seung-beom chairs a joint meeting of financial authorities held at the central government complex in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap) |
South Korea’s top financial regulator said Friday that a support program worth 2 trillion won ($1.66 billion) will be launched to cushion local businesses from economic woes stemming from the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, if needed.
“We will thoroughly review the extent of damages and the financial state of our exporters and importers to prevent any difficulties stemming from the Ukraine crisis,” Financial Services Commission Chairman Koh Seung-beom said at a joint meeting of financial authorities.
“A financial support program will be launched for the businesses if needed,” he added, with the FSC explaining that the program would be allocated a maximum of 2 trillion won.
Though financial authorities have highlighted the Russia-Ukraine crisis’s limited effect on the local market in recent days, Koh said the economy still needs to brace itself for uncertainties.
“With the Ukraine crisis entering a new stage yesterday, both local and global markets have been reacting sensitively to new developments and uncertainties, and those concerning currencies have grown,” Koh noted.
The Korean won was trading at 1,203.2 against the US dollar as of around 2:30 p.m. Friday, weakening 0.11 percent from the previous trading session.
The watchdog Financial Supervisory Service said that local financial institutions’ exposure to “Russia woes,” including the global sanctions recently imposed against the country, is currently “minimal.” But the firms must come up with their own contingency plans to counter stricter sanctions that could follow later, the watchdog warned.
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden placed harsh new sanctions on Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which involved measures against Russian banks. Sanctions were imposed on two Russian state-owned financial institutions and five Kremlin-connected elite, including the Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs, which is known as Vnesheconombank, and Promsvyazbank Public Joint Stock Company, along with 42 of their subsidiaries.
Yonhap News Agency, citing an anonymous source in the financial sector here, said Thursday that the banks placed under US sanctions do not carry out any “active financial transactions” with either Korean businesses or individuals.
By Jung Min-kyung (
mkjung@heraldcorp.com)
