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Pres. Lee Urges Guard vs. Economic Contingencies

Posted October. 04, 2008 09:34,   

한국어

President Lee Myung-bak yesterday urged the government to protect against economic contingencies and come up with step-by-step countermeasures.

He gave the order while chairing a policy meeting with financial policymakers including Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, Chief of Staff Chung Chung-kil and Strategy and Finance Minister Kang Man-soo at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae.

“The U.S.-led financial crisis is showing signs of spreading across the globe and dragging down real economies,” the president said.

“A tripartite meeting among finance ministers from Korea, China and Japan is needed to strengthen policy coordination.”

He also ordered speedy implementation of finance ministerial talks with Russia as agreed in his summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this week.

“To give confidence to domestic investors, foreign currency reserves and the amount of foreign debt should be transparently released,” President Lee said.

Finance Minister Kang said, “At the end of December 1997, Korea had 20.4 billion U.S. dollars in foreign reserves, of which 8.9 billion dollars were usable. At the end of last month, foreign reserves amounted to 239.7 billion dollars, with most of them usable.”



ddr@donga.com