Yoo Il-ho, South Korea’s incoming finance minister [Photo by Yoo Dae-gil = dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
South Korea’s incoming finance minister said there will be no major shift in economic policies but vowed to kick-start structural reforms to avert any risk of crisis.
“The economic policy should have consistency, and its keynote policy will be maintained,” Yoo Il-ho told reporters after he was named to take the reins of Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Yoo, 60, a scholar-turned-politician who served as land minister for eight months until November this year, faces a challenging task of revitalizing faltering economic growth as exports continue to slow amid cooling demand from China. The U.S. Federal Reserve began tightening its monetary policy last week, potentially putting South Korea at risk of financial crisis.
He said pre-emptive policy responses are required to address problems facing the economy, some of which he said were similar to those seen just before the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
“We are talking about a crisis now because it is time to take some pre-emptive measures such as passing the bills on economic revitalization and structural reforms,” Yoo said.
“Structural reforms have not been completed yet and they will be our top priority,” he added.
Yoo, a confidant of President Park Geun-hye, is expected to use his experience as a two-term lawmaker to push through labor reform and other controversial legislation stuck in parliament for months.
Yoo said the government will not artificially intervene to manipulate the currency market.
On the issue of snowballing household debt which weakens consumer spending, Yoo said, “I do not see major problems because financial authorities have already announced measures.”
Earlier this month, South Korea’s financial regulators issued new guidelines for banks to to more closely assess households' ability to pay back loans fully, moving away from the current focus on whether borrowers can pay back interest
Yoo was named to succeed Choi Kyoung-hwan as finance minister in a partial cabinet shake-up involving the departure of five ministers planning to run for next year April’s parliamentary election.
Yoo, a lawmaker from the ruling Saenuri party, will not run for next year’s parliamentary. He previously worked for state-run research houses such as Korea Development Institute and the Korea Institute of Public Finance for two decades.
“He is the right person to pursue economic revitalization by successfully carrying out the government economic policy,” said Kim Sung-woo, the presidential press secretary, pointing to Mr. Yoo’s “abundant insight in economic policy and real economy”.
.
Yoo will officially take over from Choi, who has held the post for about 18 months. . His nomination requires a parliamentary confirmation hearing but is not subject to parliamentary approval.
Choi has introduced an aggressive stimulus package, dubbed "Choinomics” but has fallen far short of boosting the economy, analysts said.
By Alex Lee
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
![[PHOTO NEWS] Police stop naked protestor outside home of expelled president Park Geun-hye](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2017/03/20/20170320165647927420.jpg)
