Money supply up for 5th month in October amid tightening policy: BOK

money supply-October

Money supply up for 5th month in October amid tightening policy: BOK

SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's money supply rose for the fifth consecutive month in October amid tightening policy, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 3,858 trillion won (US$2.93 trillion) in October, up 0.3 percent from a month earlier, following the previous month's 0.5 percent gain, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

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

The central bank has been implementing its restrictive mode, as it delivered seven consecutive hikes in borrowing costs from April 2022 to January 2023 to tame soaring inflation in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

South Korea's central bank held its key interest rate steady at 3.5 percent for the seventh straight time last month amid a slowdown in growth and moderating inflation.

It marked the seventh straight time that the BOK has stood pat following rate freezes in February, April, May, July and August.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved