South Korea: South Korea's money supply fell for the first time in 23 months in March, due mainly to a decline in savings deposits and other liquid financial products, central bank data showed Thursday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 4,227.8 trillion won (US$3.01 trillion) in March, down 0.1 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the first monthly decline since April 2023.
On a year-on-year basis, however, the money supply advanced 6.1 percent in March. The M2 is a measure of the money supply that counts cash, demand deposits and other easily convertible financial instruments.
The on-month decline came as savings deposits fell 7.2 trillion won from the previous month and other liquid financial products dropped 5.7 trillion won. Financial bonds with maturities under two years also lost 4.8 trillion won. But investment funds went up by 8.6 trillion won on-month and demand deposits increased 5.5 trillion won.
"Savings deposits declined due to fiscal spending by local governments, while other liquid financial products, particularly foreign currency deposits, went down as a result of overseas investments and import payment settlements," a BOK official said. South Korea's liquidity aggregate, the broadest measure of money supply, edged up 0.3 percent from a month earlier to stand at 7,236 trillion won in March, the data showed.