BOK to ease rules on foreign currency loans for exporters

SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- The Bank of Korea, South Korea's central bank, said Monday that it will ease rules on foreign currency loans for local exporters and trim interest rates on them in a bid to help companies finance business activities amid frozen credit conditions.
The measure is the latest in a string of steps taken by the government to protect
cash-starved corporate sectors whose survival is essential to the export-driven
economy, Asia's fourth-largest.
Last month, the country said it plans to offer $16 billion of foreign currency
liquidity to help local exporters ease their dollar shortages.
Local exporters are facing growing difficulties getting funds from local lenders,
while a global recession looms along with a credit crunch.
The move will bring the total amount of dollars that the government and the
central bank have supplied to the financial system to $55 billion, the finance
ministry said.
sam@yna.co.kr
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