South Korea plays down Greece impact, beefs up monitoring

[SEOUL] South Korea said on Monday that any impact on its economy from the financial troubles in Greece would likely be "very limited" but pledged to strengthen its monitoring of the situation.

Senior officials from the finance ministry, central bank and financial regulatory agencies discussed the latest developments in Greek debt negotiations and global markets at a scheduled meeting early on Monday. "Given the limited amount of trade and financial relations and our sound external positions, the effects on the local economy from the instability over Greece will be very limited," they said in a joint statement after the meeting.

South Korea frequently convenes meetings of senior economic and financial officials when there are major global events such as central bank decisions in large economies like the United States.

Monday's meeting had originally been called to discuss measures to boost capital outflows to tackle a record current account surplus but added the Greek situation to the agenda.

South Korean stocks and currency both fell on worries about Greece's instability but their losses were modest, with the stock market's benchmark KOSPI down 1.3 per cent and the won by 0.5 per cent against the dollar by 0342 GMT.

REUTERS

Read more on the Greek crisis here.