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S. Korea’s money supply keeps rising in Aug.

October 17, 2018

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) — The money supply in South Korea continued to rise in August on a steady hike in corporate lending, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country’s M2 totaled 2,651.5 trillion won (US$2.36 trillion) in August, up 6.7 percent from 2,485.6 trillion won a year earlier, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement.

The growth rate of South Korea’s M2 had been on a steady decline since April last year but made a turnaround after hitting a four-year low of 4.6 percent in August last year. It has remained at the modestly high level of over 5 percent since the beginning of 2018.

From a month earlier, the money supply edged up 0.6 percent in August, the BOK added.

The central bank said increased corporate credit has led to a pickup in the money supply since the latter half of last year.

M2 is a measure of the money supply that counts the currency in circulation, including bank debentures and deposits with a maturity of less than two years, along with stock investments. It is a key economic indicator closely monitored by the authorities.PCM20180921000346990_P2