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HIGHLIGHTS-South Korean central bank chief's main comments
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Reuters - Thursday, April  9
* For the full coverage on rates, see [ID:nSEO178167]
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* For the governor's previous remarks, see [ID:nSEO373740]
* For analysts' reaction, see [ID:nSEO263306]
SEOUL, April 9 - South Korea's central bank held interest rates steady at a record low for a second consecutive month on Thursday, as expected, and said Asia's fourth-largest economy was levelling off after a rapid decline.
The Bank of Korea had slashed the rate by 3.25 percentage points in six successive reductions since early October last year from a record-high 5.25 percent, joining efforts by authorities around the world to fight the worst global downturn in decades.
Following are key remarks by Bank of Korea Governor Lee Seong-tae at a news conference, translated by Reuters:
ON RATE POLICY
"As for the future monetary policy, we will continue our accommodative financial policy for the time being to prevent a severe economic contraction and ensure market stability."
"Given the lingering uncertainty over the global economic outlook for this year and next year, the door for further interest rate cuts is still open, depending on the situation."
"Keeping the rates on hold does not mean that the accommodative policy is now over. We wanted to wait and see over the past two months before determining whether we need additional interest rate cuts."
"Our spree of rate cuts seems to have achieved the policy goals as savings and debt rates have fallen accordingly."
ON ECONOMY
"The pace of economic decline has considerably slowed over the past one to two months."
"We had indicators of late showing the situation has turned out to be better than we had feared last month."
"It is not easy to clearly say the economy will bottom out during the first half of this year. We need to read indicators for the past one or two months very carefully. The economy usually shows a temporary upturn while undergoing a down cycle."
"Although the strong fiscal policy should have some effect, domestic consumption will likely remain weak for a while and the global economy is not likely to recover soon, which in turn will weigh on exports. Broadly speaking, our economy will see more suffering for the time being. The chances of negative economic growth are pretty high."
ON INFLATION
"As the demand is very weak both domestically and globally and there is no further upward pressure from costs, inflation will show a clear slowdown from April and beyond."
ON WON, CURRENT ACCOUNT
"The won's sharp fall in February and early March proved to be overdone."
"Despite the effect from a recovering won on the current account balance, I'm not too much worried about it. This year, the current account will post a very big surplus."
ON BOND MARKET
"We're ready to take action when necessary. We will watch the market's reaction to the government's bond issuance," referring to the finance ministry's plan to fund most of the 17.7 trillion won in additional spending plans via bonds. (Reporting by Seo Eun-kyung; Editing by Yoo Choonsik and Tomasz Janowski)
 
 
 
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