SEOUL– President Moon Jae-in formally appointed a former veteran International Monetary Fund official, Rhee Chang-yong, as new head of the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Thursday after the National Assembly adopted a report on his confirmation hearing.
Rhee, former director of the Asia and Pacific department at the IMF, was nominated last month to succeed former BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol, whose term ended on March 31.
After conferring a certificate of appointment on Rhee, Moon asked him to make utmost efforts to stabilize prices, presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said in a statement.
South Korea is grappling with rising inflation pressure driven by global supply bottlenecks and rebound in demand from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moon also asked Rhee to focus on managing household debts and stabilizing housing markets, Park said.
During a parliamentary hearing, Rhee said the BOK will continue to tighten its monetary policy to tame inflation but indicated that the pace of policy tightening may be adjusted to prop up economic growth.
Rhee took office later Thursday after an inauguration ceremony.
Source: Yonhap News Agency