The Bank of Korea to Supply 5.6 Trillion Won in Currency Ahead of Lunar New Year... Largest Ever

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Eun-mo] Ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, the Bank of Korea supplied approximately 5.6 trillion won worth of currency to the market, the largest amount ever.

On the 23rd, the Bank of Korea announced that the net issuance of currency newly circulated to financial institutions over 10 business days from the 10th to the 23rd was 5.5953 trillion won. This is the largest scale since the Bank of Korea began compiling related statistics in 1998.

During this period, the Bank of Korea issued 6.0896 trillion won in currency, and 494.3 billion won worth of currency returned to the Bank of Korea's vault. The net issuance amount is the amount issued minus the amount recovered back to the Bank of Korea. The issuance amount increased by 1.0% compared to the previous year, but the recovery amount only increased by 0.3%, resulting in a 1.0% increase in net issuance compared to last year.

A Bank of Korea official said, "Although the Lunar New Year holiday period is shorter than last year, currency supply increased due to household demand for New Year's money and corporate demand for salary and Lunar New Year bonus payments."