WASHINGTON/SEOUL– South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho highlighted the importance of keeping “consistency” between financial and monetary policies as countries tackle global inflation, the finance ministry said Sunday.
“While it is inevitable to take a tight monetary policy to stabilize prices, we also need to fully consider that the move intensifies the volatility in the global financial market,” Choo said during the Group of 20 meeting of finance chiefs and central bankers on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Through financial policies, we need to support growth and the vulnerable group. But we should also maintain their consistencies with the monetary policy in order to minimize confusion in the market,” he added.
Other participants of the meeting also echoed the view, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
During the meeting, Choo called for the swift end of the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, along with the restoration of a multilateral trade system.
The finance minister also pointed out that the G-20 should make efforts to improve loan capacities of multilateral development banks and help settle the debts of vulnerable countries.
On Friday, Choo participated in the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) conference to discuss the current global economic situation and the role of the IMF.
During the meeting, Choo stressed the importance of taking measures to protect the vulnerable group amid the global belt-tightening moves.
Participants, meanwhile, failed to reach a joint communique at the G-20 and IMF meetings. Informed sources said that while Western nations claimed the war has weighed down the economy, Moscow expressed a different view.
On the sidelines of the visit to the United States, Choo also met officials from Moody’s, Fitch and S&P — the world’s three major credit appraisers — and exchanged opinions on the direction of South Korea’s economic policies.
The ministry said the credit appraisers assessed the South Korean economy as being fundamentally different from 1997, when Asia’s fourth-largest economy was hit hard by the Asian financial crisis.
The credit appraisers noted that South Korea has strong resilience amid the growing global economic uncertainties and that it maintains sound fundamentals, the ministry added.
Choo also held a separate meeting with his Australian counterpart, Jim Chalmers, and asked for a stable supply of energy sources, such as liquefied natural gas, to South Korea.
Source: Yonhap News Agency