The Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a report to lawmakers that it will strengthen its monitoring of changes in monetary policies in major economies and market movements in emerging markets. It will also continuously check its contingency plans over the possibility of financial and economic instability, the BOK said.
Jitters in emerging markets resurfaced after the Federal Reserve recently decided to reduce its monthly asset purchases again, now down to US$65 billion, citing the improvement in the U.S. economy. In December, the Fed decided to start tapering the quantitative easing (QE) from $85 billion to $75 billion a month.
The central bank also said it will manage a monetary policy that supports economic recovery while keeping consumer price growth within the bank's inflation target band over the long haul.
The BOK froze the key interest rate at 2.5 percent for the ninth straight month in February as the local economy has shown signs of improvement amid tame inflation.
Korea's inflationary pressure remains subdued as consumer prices ran below the BOK's 2.5-3.5 percent inflation target band for the 20th straight month in January. (Yonhap)