Authorities step in verbally to slow slide of weakening won

Electronic display boards at Hana Bank in central Seoul show the markets on Dec. 24. [NEWS1]

 
Foreign exchange authorities said Wednesday that an excessively weak won is not desirable in the latest verbal intervention to tame the local currency against the U.S. dollar.
 
The won fell below 1,460 following the announcement — the first time since Nov. 26.   
 
Over the past one to two weeks, the government convened a series of meetings and announced measures for each ministry and agency as the won broke the 1,480 threshold despite the government’s continuous efforts to appreciate the currency. 
 

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“The process is intended to organize the situation to demonstrate the government’s strong will to resolve [the foreign exchange rate issue] and its comprehensive capacity to implement policy. This will soon become clear,” the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a joint statement.  
 
To stabilize the won, the BOK said last week that it will temporarily waive the foreign exchange stability levy and pay interest on financial institutions’ excess foreign currency reserves held at the bank from January through June. The National Pension Service — the world’s third-largest pension fund — extended its strategic foreign exchange hedging program and the $65 billion swap agreement with the BOK through the end of next year.  
 

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]