South Korea central bank chief says ready for rapid Fed rate hikes

Reuters

Published Feb 20, 2018 06:32PM ET

South Korea central bank chief says ready for rapid Fed rate hikes

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank chief said on Wednesday the Bank of Korea is prepared to respond to any negative impact from faster-than-expected policy tightening in the U.S.

"If (the Fed moves) faster than expected, it will immediately impact international financial markets and also domestic markets as well, so we're prepared to respond to such a scenario," Governor Lee Ju-yeol told reporters in Zurich after signing a bilateral currency swap with Switzerland.

Lee said the Bank of Korea expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise policy rates three times this year.