Growth of international air traffic in Seoul during the first quarter
«IMF» calls for an increase of the exchange rate of the currency in South Korea

Date Published: Saturday, April 19th, 2014

The International Monetary Fund said in its latest South Korea that the price of the local currency is still less than the true value
has to be between 2 and 8%, and the student should be allowed to rise the value of the Korean currency in the medium term.

The Fund in a report released yesterday evening that the South Korean won is still undervalued by as much as 8%, in the light of the expectations of the arrival of the ratio already to the limit, with the continuation of the trade surplus for South Korea.

The news agency quoted «Yonhap» South Korea's IMF report said: «The analyzes of experts Fund, which was based on expectations of rising foreign exchange reserves at the Seoul thanks to increased revenues deposits South Korean foreign currencies, indicate that there is government intervention is active to prevent currency appreciation.

The report added that it should be left so that the currency is determined by its value depending on the market, and that government intervention is very limited, and only targets the reduction of sharp fluctuations in exchange rates. The report said: «The rising value of the Korean currency in the medium term will help redirect resources to the non-commercial sectors, which promotes the growth of rebalancing the South Korean economy».

The U.S. Treasury Department called Seoul in time last week to reduce its intervention in the foreign exchange market, in order to keep the value of the local currency is low, which gives the South Korean products a competitive advantage in global markets. The South Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar over the past year by 1.4%, while increased since the beginning of this year by 1.6%.

He also called on the IMF, South Korea to limit the growth of its foreign exchange reserves, which reached at the end of last month to 354 billion dollars while the trade surplus for the country last year to 79.88 billion dollars.

On the other hand, the central bank said South Korea yesterday: «The producer prices in the country fell for the eighth month in a row in March, on the back of lower oil prices, and the strong value of the local currency against the U.S. dollar. The index of producer prices, a measure of consumer price inflation in the future, rose 0.5% last month, compared with last year, and by 0.9% on an annual basis in February, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

And producer prices have stabilized in March on an annual basis, compared with February, rising by 0.1%, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. This reading came at a time when the central bank froze its main interest rate at 2.5% for the 11th month in a row in April.

On the other hand, the government said yesterday in South Korea that the international aircraft traffic in the country has grown in the first quarter of this year increased by 5% compared to the same period last year, according to a news report said.

The news agency quoted «Yonhap» South Korean Ministry of land, infrastructure and transport, the number of flights that took off and landed in the country during the first three months of this year amounted to 87 491 aircraft. The total air traffic increased by 4.4% on an annual basis to 145 527 trip, where the number of domestic flights by 3% to reach 48 609 trip.

It also grew the number of flights that cross country's airspace by 6.4% to 9427 trip. The ministry data showed that the number of passengers on international flights from South Korea and it has increased by 7%, on an annual basis, to 4.31 million in February alone.

The ministry suggested that this figure will continue to rise in the second quarter. She added that air traffic in the second quarter is likely to grow on the back of increasing the number of travelers to overseas for holidays, and increased services by low-cost airlines.

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