[Aju News DB]
China and South Korea have agreed to introduce direct trading of their currencies within China by the end of June to help promote trade and investment between the two neighboring countries.
Friday's agreement was reached on Friday at a meeting between the heads of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and South Korea's finance ministry on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of central bank governors and finance ministers in Shanghai, South Korea’s finance ministry said in a statement.
South Korea has made big strides to deepen its economic co-operation with China, the country’s biggest trading partner. They began direct trade between the yuan and the won within South Korea in December 2014 and signed a free trade agreement last year.
Seoul hopes more local companies trading with China will adopt the use of the yuan or won for payments, instead of using the U.S. dollar.
South Korea’s s finance ministry said the two countries would begin discussion on extending a bilateral currency swap arrangement for 360 billion yuan and 64 trillion won beyond the deadline of October 2017, a step that will bolster the county’s ability to defend capital outflows during a global financial market turmoil.
By Alex Lee
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
