* For a story on previous rate meeting, see
* For a poll on Thursday's meeting, see
Feb 12 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank is expected to cut interest rates by another half a percentage point to a record low of 2.0 percent on Thursday, the sixth reduction in four months, in a bid to shore up Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Central bank decisions are typically announced around mid-morning in Seoul.
Following are key comments that South Korean officials and agencies have made on economic and monetary policy since the Bank of Korea cut its base rate by 50 basis points to 2.50 percent at its previous monthly meeting on Jan. 9:
FINANCE MINISTER YOON JEUNG-HYUN, Feb. 10, in his inauguration speech:
'The South Korean economy is seen contracting 2 percent and losing about 200,000 jobs this year.'
'We will draw up an extra budget bill sufficient enough to boost domestic demand and submit the proposal to the parliament by the end of March.'
FINANCE MINISTER-APPOINTEE YOON JEUNG-HYUN, Feb. 5, quoted in a statement from the ruling Grand National Party:
'The government will keep injecting liquidity to lower market interest rates and take appropriate actions to prevent sharp movements in won.'
BANK OF KOREA GOVERNOR LEE SEONG-TAE, Jan. 30, in a speech to local business executives:
'The Bank of Korea will continue to make its best efforts to help the local economy overcome the current troubles.'
'It's increasingly likely that the economy cannot achieve 2-3 percent growth this year. It's hard to predict whether the economy can grow even if the first quarter turns out to be better than the fourth quarter of last year.'
'Exports will likely see more blows from the global economic slump and domestic consumption will continue to flag due to the tightening conditions in the jobs market.'
VICE FINANCE MINISTER HUR KYUNG-WOOK, Jan. 29, in a news briefing:
'Major companies will start cutting employment and the situation will inevitably get worse in the future. The economy is unlikely to recover quickly, given the deepening global recession.'
BANK OF KOREA GOVERNOR LEE SEONG-TAE, Jan. 16, in a meeting of senior officials at the central bank:
'Future monetary policy will be managed with the priority on supporting the economic recovery and helping improve the financial market situation.'
PRESIDENT LEE MYUNG-BAK, Jan. 15, quoted by his spokesman as saying during an economic crisis meeting with top policymakers:
'The most urgent task facing us is providing jobs to the people. It is important (for the government) to improve employment quality for day workers and provide more jobs by executing budget spending as early as possible.'
PRESIDENT LEE MYUNG-BAK, Jan. 9, quoted by a media pool report as saying the country had room for further interest rate cuts:
'The policy interest rate was higher than those in other major economies.'
(Reporting by Seo Eun-kyung; Editing by Yoo Choonsik) Keywords: KOREA ECONOMY/COMMENTS (eunkyung.seo@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5648; Reuters Messaging;eunkyung.seo.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
* For a poll on Thursday's meeting, see
Feb 12 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank is expected to cut interest rates by another half a percentage point to a record low of 2.0 percent on Thursday, the sixth reduction in four months, in a bid to shore up Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Central bank decisions are typically announced around mid-morning in Seoul.
Following are key comments that South Korean officials and agencies have made on economic and monetary policy since the Bank of Korea cut its base rate by 50 basis points to 2.50 percent at its previous monthly meeting on Jan. 9:
FINANCE MINISTER YOON JEUNG-HYUN, Feb. 10, in his inauguration speech:
'The South Korean economy is seen contracting 2 percent and losing about 200,000 jobs this year.'
'We will draw up an extra budget bill sufficient enough to boost domestic demand and submit the proposal to the parliament by the end of March.'
FINANCE MINISTER-APPOINTEE YOON JEUNG-HYUN, Feb. 5, quoted in a statement from the ruling Grand National Party:
'The government will keep injecting liquidity to lower market interest rates and take appropriate actions to prevent sharp movements in won.'
BANK OF KOREA GOVERNOR LEE SEONG-TAE, Jan. 30, in a speech to local business executives:
'The Bank of Korea will continue to make its best efforts to help the local economy overcome the current troubles.'
'It's increasingly likely that the economy cannot achieve 2-3 percent growth this year. It's hard to predict whether the economy can grow even if the first quarter turns out to be better than the fourth quarter of last year.'
'Exports will likely see more blows from the global economic slump and domestic consumption will continue to flag due to the tightening conditions in the jobs market.'
VICE FINANCE MINISTER HUR KYUNG-WOOK, Jan. 29, in a news briefing:
'Major companies will start cutting employment and the situation will inevitably get worse in the future. The economy is unlikely to recover quickly, given the deepening global recession.'
BANK OF KOREA GOVERNOR LEE SEONG-TAE, Jan. 16, in a meeting of senior officials at the central bank:
'Future monetary policy will be managed with the priority on supporting the economic recovery and helping improve the financial market situation.'
PRESIDENT LEE MYUNG-BAK, Jan. 15, quoted by his spokesman as saying during an economic crisis meeting with top policymakers:
'The most urgent task facing us is providing jobs to the people. It is important (for the government) to improve employment quality for day workers and provide more jobs by executing budget spending as early as possible.'
PRESIDENT LEE MYUNG-BAK, Jan. 9, quoted by a media pool report as saying the country had room for further interest rate cuts:
'The policy interest rate was higher than those in other major economies.'
(Reporting by Seo Eun-kyung; Editing by Yoo Choonsik) Keywords: KOREA ECONOMY/COMMENTS (eunkyung.seo@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5648; Reuters Messaging;eunkyung.seo.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.