INCHEON, South Korea : South Korea needs to see more stabilisation in prices before it can shift the focus of economic policies from fighting inflation to boosting growth, Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said on Thursday.
A consistent approach was needed to tackle inflation, and shifting the policy stance before that"may spark inflationary pressures again" Choo said during a meeting with journalists. While April's 3.7 per cent inflation was the lowest annual rates in 14 months, it was still high and there remained factors that could cause inflation to flare up.
Choo also said he hoped to go to Tokyo for talks with his Japanese counterpart Shunichi Suzuki at the earliest time possible. The ministers had agreed to hold further discussions when they met for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of an Asian Development Bank gathering earlier this week.