South Korean president did not assume sure-thing rate cut: official

[SEOUL] South Korean President Park Geun-hye was not assuming an interest rate cut as a sure thing when she talked about cooperation between policy authorities at a news conference on Monday, an aide to Ms Park said.

Ms Park's comment gave an immediate lift to bond futures prices on speculation that it would increase pressure on the central bank's policy committee to lower interest rates as early as at its Jan 15 meeting.

"(President Park) was stating the general principle that any macro-economic policy decision will be made through communication between authorities in charge," said Choi Sang-mok, a presidential secretary on economic and financial policy.

Ms Park told a news conference that regarding the issue of an interest rate reduction, policy authorities would respond in a timely manner through cooperation with each other.

In South Korea, the central bank's seven-member monetary policy committee has the right to set the policy interest rate at its monthly meetings.

REUTERS