Fed’s Powell, BOK chief to meet during G20 gathering

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol will meet during a Group of 20 (G20) gathering of finance ministers and top central bankers July 9-10 to discuss the Delta coronavirus variant’s impact on global economy and financial markets, as well as monetary policy cooperation between the two central banks.

Powell and Lee are scheduled for a bilateral meeting during the G20 event in Venice, Italy, according to related ministries on July 9. The two central bank chiefs last met in a similar G20 gathering  Feb. 22-23, 2020 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Following that talk, the Fed and the BOK signed a $60 billion currency swap deal in March last year, which stabilized South Korean financial markets hit by the COVID-19.

“We discussed financial markets in Korea and the COVID-19’s impact on the economy in detail at that time,” Lee told reporters in March last year, referring to the meeting with the US central bank chief. “We agreed to exchange views often on the Korean market situation.”

A key focus is if the two central bank chiefs will discuss measures to stabilize the global economy, while they are also likely to talk about interest rate policies and currency swaps.

Investors are keeping an eye on when the Fed scales back its massive asset purchase program and if the BOK will raise interest rates later this year as the spreading Delta variant is predicted to hurt the global economy.

South Korea placed Seoul and neighboring regions under the tightest COVID-19 curbs as fresh cases set a second consecutive daily case record nationwide as of midnight July 8.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.