Bank of Korea denies report of imminent FX swap with U.S. Fed

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SEOUL — South Korea’s central bank denied a local online media report on Wednesday that a currency swap arrangement with the U.S. Federal Reserve would be announced as early as this week.

The Bank of Korea said in a brief statement that the report is not true.

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South Korea’s Yonhap Infomax reported that a swap arrangement would likely be announced this week at the latest for an amount of more than $60 billion, without citing sources.

A $60-billion currency swap pact set up in March 2020 between the central banks of the two countries as an emergency step to stabilize markets expired at the end of last year.

Such a swap would allow South Korea to borrow a certain amount of U.S. dollars for a pre-set period and rate, in exchange for won, so as to resolve difficulties in dollar liquidity. (Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Ana Nicolaci da Costa)