Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol attends parliamentary confirmation hearing

Arirang News 2018-03-21

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Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol was reappointed by President Moon Jae-in for a second term earlier this month.
The National Assembly is holding a confirmation hearing on his reappointment as we speak.
We have our Kim Hyesung on line for us.
Can you walk us through some of the main talking points so far?

Hi Mark,
Lee Ju-yeol's confirmation hearing began at 10am this morning, around two hours ago.
The hearing has mainly been focused on his market views rather than on his personal information.
The key issue has been on the pace of the BOK's rate hikes...with the U.S. Federal Reserve expected to raise U.S. rates three or four times this year.
Lee said demand side inflationary pressure is expected to be fairly low for some time, and that the Monetary Policy Board will comprehensively consider the economic conditions and the financial market situation and...will maintain its accommodative monetary policy stance to support the economic recovery.
He emphasized the need for caution saying growing trade protectionism and major advanced countries' monetary policy normalization add uncertainty to the global economy.
Domestically, he pointed to the growing income gap, aging population and low fertility rate as well as household debt of around 1.34 trillion U.S. dollars as factors undermining Korea's economic growth potential.
On the Bank of Korea's independence from the government, the governor said he feels enormous responsibility,... adding that he believes President Moon's reappointment decision was made to strengthen the bank's independence from the government and have monetary policy consistency.
If Lee is reappointed for a second-four year term... that will begin next month....he will be the first BOK governor to serve two terms since the 1970s.
Back to you, Mark.

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