ID :
207964
Mon, 09/19/2011 - 09:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/207964
The shortlink copeid
Anti-inflation efforts in S. Korea a "failure": lawmaker
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's anti-inflation efforts have been a "failure," a ruling party lawmaker said Monday, calling for better intra-government policy coordination to tackle the nation's stubbornly high inflation. "The government unveiled a series of measures on Jan. 13 that focus on both short- and long-term measures designed to flexibly run the nation's macroeconomic policy, stabilize market supply and tackle inflation," Kwon Kyung-seok of the Grand National Party said. "But its main objective to stabilize prices appears to be a failure." He made the remarks in a press release distributed to reporters before the annual parliamentary audit into the finance ministry started. The criticism came amid persistently high inflation for Asia's fourth-largest economy. South Korea's consumer prices jumped 5.3 percent in August from a year earlier, the fastest pace in three years and up from a 4.7 percent gain in July. Kwon attributed the accelerating inflation in part to higher costs of importing raw materials, soaring prices of farm products caused by extreme weather conditions and an unstable property market. Increased liquidity injected into the financial system following the global financial crisis was also cited as a major factor. He still blamed a lack of policy coordination among government ministries and agencies, saying it led to "inconsistency" and failure to tackle runaway inflation. The lawmaker cited conflicting measures unveiled last month with regard to household borrowing. On Aug. 18, the land ministry eased regulations on home rental loans to stabilize housing prices, while financial authorities on the same day toughened rules on lending by commercial banks to keep a lid on ballooning household debt. "The reason the market turns its back on the government's polices is because it fails to keep policy consistent among related ministries and agencies," Kwon said. "The government should step up intra-government policy coordination to deal with such issues as inflation, which require involvement of many ministries and agencies, and try to regain market trust by seeking consistent polices," he added.