Finance minister voices confidence in economy, vows efforts to stabilize stock market
Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol speaks during a meeting with economy-related ministers held at the Government Complex Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Korea's finance minister on Thursday expressed confidence in the country's economy, saying it is achieving "unprecedented" results on the back of solid growth and exports.
"The Korean economy is more solid than ever and is achieving unprecedented results," said Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol during a meeting with economy-related ministers in Seoul.
"Both real-economy indicators and macroeconomic indicators, including growth, exports, inflation, and consumer and business sentiment indexes, continue to show a steady upward trend."
Last month, the government raised its 2025 growth forecast to 3 percent from its earlier projection of 2 percent, citing a semiconductor supercycle and easing uncertainties surrounding the Middle East.
Latest data showed that Asia's fourth-largest economy expanded 3.8 percent in the first six months of the year from a year ago.
Exports, the main driver of the economy, reached a record high of $102.2 billion in June amid solid global demand for memory chips.
Regarding recent stock market volatility, Koo said the government is working to stabilize the market and make the country a more attractive destination for investors.
"The government is responding swiftly to mitigate stock market volatility, and recently, the stock index has shown signs of stabilization," he said.
"We will continue our efforts to improve the structural health of the capital market and foster new industries to make it a more reliable investment destination."
To curb market volatility, the government announced a package of measures, including restrictions on transactions involving single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Such ETFs linked to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, introduced in May, have been widely viewed as a key factor behind the recent volatility in the domestic stock market.