BOK head to attend G20, IMF meetings this week

South Korea's central bank chief will attend international meetings this week to discuss pending economic and financial issues with this counterparts from the world's major economies, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday.

BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol will head for Washington DC on Wednesday to participate in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings slated for the following day, according to the central bank.

Lee also plans to attend annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group on Friday to exchange views on current issues such as measures to stabilize the global financial market.

He is set to return home on Monday.

Lee Ju-yeol(Yonhap)

Lee's trip comes days before the BOK's monetary policy meeting on April 18, which is expected to attract media attention as the central bank may cut its growth forecast from 2.6 percent for 2019.

The BOK will likely hold the policy rate steady at 1.75 percent at the same time.

The BOK has been under increasing pressure to take action amid clear signs of an economic slowdown.

Gov. Lee earlier said Asia's fourth-largest economy has been slowing down to some extent in the first few months of the year as uncertainties rose amid ongoing US-China trade talks and global growth concerns.

But he also stressed that the current base rate is accommodative enough to support the economy. (Yonhap)