Bloomberg <\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) — In South Korea, calls for action to stem the won\u2019s decline are getting louder by the day.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the finance ministry warned of increased volatility and said it would take swift measures if needed, while the government eased FX rules to boost onshore dollar liquidity. Presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom is set to hold an emergency meeting with seven conglomerates to discuss FX issues, Korea Economic Daily reported, citing people in the presidential office it didn\u2019t identify.<\/p>\n
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The pressure comes as the currency nears the psychologically important 1,500 level \u2014 a threshold breached only during the global financial crisis and the Asian currency meltdown in 1997 \u2014 even after authorities leaned on a raft of familiar defenses in recent months. The country\u2019s National Pension Service was said to have sold dollars to bolster the won, while South Korean brokerages have decided to halt new marketing of overseas equities.<\/p>\n
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The won has been Asia\u2019s worst-performing currency in the second half of the year, sliding about 8% against the dollar. A sharply weaker currency risks importing inflation and accelerating capital outflows, complicating the Bank of Korea\u2019s efforts to ease policy to support faltering growth. A disorderly depreciation could also erode foreign investor confidence in the country\u2019s financial stability, potentially creating a vicious cycle where a weaker won drives further outflows.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe authorities need to forcefully push back against long-dollar sentiment and draw a clear red line,\u201d said Gyeong-Won Min, an economist at Woori Bank. When dollar-buying accelerates \u201cperipheral measures can\u2019t contain the rise in the exchange rate \u2014 in the end the authorities need to step in with actual intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n
The won\u2019s slide coincides with broader currency strains across Asia. Japan is grappling with renewed yen weakness amid fiscal concerns and the Bank of Japan\u2019s slow pace of rate hikes. India\u2019s rupee has fallen to record lows on US tariffs and equity outflows, prompting the central bank to intervene through dollar sales this month. A stabilization in the greenback after months of declines has only amplified the pressure on regional currencies.<\/p>\n
South Korean authorities have begun widening their response. The government eased FX rules to lure inflows, and said supervisory burdens tied to enhanced FX-liquidity stress tests for financial institutions would be eased through the end of June next year, according to an emailed statement Thursday.<\/p>\n
Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang Yong also signaled discomfort on Wednesday, saying the current exchange rate poses risks for both inflation and growth. The won weakened \u201cunnecessarily\u201d due to domestic factors, and the FX policy has room to address not just volatility but also the currency\u2019s level through coordination, he added.<\/p>\n
The NPS remains a key lever. In December, the fund \u2014 which held about $542 billion of foreign assets \u2014 was said to have begun selling dollars as part of a tactical hedging strategy. The organization, which usually acts on policymakers\u2019 behalf to support the FX market, has also said it will be more flexible in its hedging strategies. The move signaled to the market that the NPS may act more preemptively than investors had thought.<\/p>\n
Still, Finance Minister Koo Yun Cheol said Thursday evening that he has no intention of using the NPS to defend the won. Recent discussions on FX hedging are aimed at preparing for potential currency appreciation and ensuring more stable long-term portfolio management, he said.<\/p>\n
Even so, the won has kept weakening. It fell for a third straight day to 1,477 per dollar, close to its weakest since April.<\/p>\n
The selloff has been fueled by a relentless exodus of foreign capital despite the boom in semiconductor exports, as well as local investors\u2019 outbound investments and fears that increased investments in the US \u2014 planned as part of tariff negotiations \u2014 could put pressure on Korea\u2019s FX market.<\/p>\n
The next move by authorities will need to be well-calibrated, said Wee Khoon Chong, senior APAC market strategist at BNY.<\/p>\n
\u201cFX smoothing requires delicate but forceful maneuvering, and an ineffective operation might yield undesirable effects, with depreciation momentum becoming unhinged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
(Updates with Finance Minister\u2019s remarks in 10th paragraph.)<\/p>\n
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\u00a92025 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — In South Korea, calls for action to stem the won\u2019s decline are getting louder by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[126386,4932,79,126387,179,18,19,17,126385,2428],"class_list":{"0":"post-239455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-bank-of-korea","9":"tag-bloomberg","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-currency-meltdown","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-korea-economic-daily","17":"tag-south-korea"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115741407650737222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}