SEOUL, May 17 ― South Korea today said it will disclose details of actions taken by currency authorities on a regular basis starting in the second half of this year, an action likely to ease concerns about the country being labelled a currency manipulator by the United States.
Starting in the second half of 2018, the country's finance ministry will disclose the net amount used on buying and selling of US dollars to prevent sharp swings in the South Korean won, the ministry said in a statement.
From the second half of 2019, the details will be disclosed on a quarterly basis.
The move would help boost the transparency of South Korea's currency market, as the government and the Bank of Korea have not been sharing details of its “smoothing operations” until now.
The decision will “remove unnecessary misunderstandings about our currency market operations and help build trust about our policies”, a joint statement from the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Korea said.
In March, South Korean officials said plans to disclose details of currency market interventions were under review, as was long suggested by the International Monetary Fund.
South Korea, along with China, avoided the label of currency-manipulator in the US Treasury Department's twice-yearly report in April, but was kept on a currency “monitoring list”. ― Reuters
