money supply-April

money supply-April

Money supply down for 2nd month in April amid tightening policy: BOK

SEOUL, June 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's money supply decreased for the second straight month in April amid aggressive monetary tightening, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 3,797.3 trillion won (US$2.98 trillion) in April, down 0.3 percent, from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

In March, the nation's M2 fell 0.2 percent.

The M2 is a measure of the money supply that counts cash, demand deposits and other easily convertible financial instruments.

The BOK attributed the money supply fall in April to a decrease in on-demand bank deposits.

The central bank held its key interest rate steady at 3.5 percent for the third straight time last month.

The rate freezes came after the BOK delivered seven consecutive hikes in borrowing costs from April 2022 to January 2023 to tame soaring inflation in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

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