According to Yonhap News,
(SEOUL=Yonhap News) The money supply in South Korean rose at the fastest clip in seven months in January on increased fiscal surplus, central bank data showed Wednesday.
The country's M2 totaled 2,556.1 trillion won (US$2.39 trillion) in January, up 5.5 percent from 2,414.9 trillion won a year earlier, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement.
It posted the highest on-year rise since June last year, when the money supply increased 5.9 percent from the previous year.
From a month earlier, the money supply also grew 1.3 percent in January, the fastest increase tallied since February 2009.
The central bank said a budget surplus for fiscal 2017 led to the sharp increase in M2 in the first month of 2018. The South Korean government logged 11.3 trillion won in fiscal surplus last year thanks to a rise in corporate and value-added taxes.
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.
brk@yna.co.kr
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Source: Yonhap News (Mar. 14, 2018)