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S. Korea's finance minister calls for debate on 'orderly exit strategy'

May 30, 2013 - 10:36 By 권범준

South Korea's finance minister has expressed concerns over the negative impact of quantitative easing by advanced countries and called for debate about an "orderly exit strategy" from such expansionary monetary policy, his office here said Thursday.

Hyun Oh-seok made the remarks during a discussion session at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. The session on economic outlook is part of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting held in Paris, the highest decision-making body of the organization. 

"Hyun pointed out problematic points of quantitative easing and urged others to debate diverse macro prudential steps adopted by countries and an orderly exit strategy," the office said in a press release that summarized what was discussed during the session.

As for Japan's expansionary monetary policy, Hyun was quoted as saying that he can acknowledge its inevitability to stimulate the Japanese economy but noted that it is surely having side effects on other neighboring countries including South Korea.

He went on to say that an expansionary monetary policy "without structural reform" is like "a fragile sandcastle on the beach."

He also emphasized that now is the time to have active debate on measures to improve macro prudentiality and exit strategies from expansionary monetary policy in order to help ease the impact from abrupt cross-border capital flows. (Yonhap news)