Market Situation Review Meeting Held
Koo Yoon-chul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, is taking a commemorative photo on the 14th before the market situation briefing held at the Federation of Banks in Jung-gu, Seoul. From left, Lee Chan-jin, Financial Supervisory Service Governor, Deputy Prime Minister Koo, Shin Hyun-song, Bank of Korea Governor, and Lee Eok-won, Financial Services Commission Chairman. Ministry of Economy and Finance
The heads of government ministries responsible for macroeconomic and financial policy have expressed concerns over the possibility of a strike at Samsung Electronics and urged a resolution through dialogue.
According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on May 14, during the Market Situation Review Meeting held that morning at the Korea Federation of Banks in Jung-gu, Seoul, presided over by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Koo Un-chul, participants shared the view that “if a strike at Samsung Electronics materializes, it could pose significant risks across the board, including to growth, exports, and the financial markets.”
They emphasized that “a strike should not occur and that the issues need to be resolved promptly through principled negotiations between labor and management.”
The meeting was attended by Hyun-Song Shin, Governor of the Bank of Korea; Eok-Won Lee, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission; and Chan-Jin Lee, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service. The participants reviewed recent trends in the financial and foreign exchange markets and risk factors, and discussed response strategies.
The participants assessed that, while the Korean economy has achieved stronger growth than initially expected due to robust performance in the semiconductor sector, and the fundamentals of the macroeconomy and financial and foreign exchange markets remain solid, persistent uncertainties caused by factors such as the ongoing Middle East conflict have led to volatility in the financial and foreign exchange markets, as evidenced by the recent rise in government bond yields and exchange rates.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance reported that, although the KOSPI index has reached the high 7,000s and the stock market has grown to rank among the world’s top markets by market capitalization—thanks to the competitiveness and performance of core industries like semiconductors despite external uncertainties—the participants agreed that continuous efforts to improve the structure of the capital market are necessary for Korea to establish itself as a premier market.
With Korean government bonds having been included in the World Government Bond Index (WGBI) last month, which has led to inflows of foreign capital and improved the structural demand base for government bonds, the authorities agreed to manage the government bond market stably, leveraging the favorable environment.
The participants also pointed out that, amid risk factors such as the Middle East conflict, rising international oil prices, and uncertainty over interest rate directions in major economies, recent increases in foreign investors’ stock selling and offshore speculative trading have caused volatility to become excessively amplified relative to the fundamentals of the Korean economy.
They noted that foreign currency liquidity remains sound, and that institutional improvements such as the WGBI inclusion, the National Pension Fund’s new framework, and the introduction of the Returning Investors Account (RIA) have contributed to stabilizing supply and demand. They also pointed out that the record current account surplus and other favorable conditions mean that, once external risk factors like the Middle East conflict are resolved, the foreign exchange market is expected to stabilize rapidly.
This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.