Latest news with #Rhee
Business Times
a day ago
- Business
- Business Times
Bank of Korea's Rhee says US-China trade talks important for Asia
[SEOUL] Bank of Korea (BOK) governor Rhee Chang-yong said the outcome of trade negotiations between the US and China will have an impact on all of Asia's economies, highlighting their significance beyond the bilateral level. 'When we actually measure the impact of US tariffs on us, the indirect impact through China is very important because we are very much connected with them through supply chains,' Rhee said referring to South Korea at a BOK event in Seoul on Monday (Jun 2). The governor said other economies also needed to factor in the US-China element when assessing the hit from the US levies. 'How the negotiations between the US and China will go is also important for Asian economies in general,' Rhee said. The comments underline the concerns among policymakers throughout the region on the outcome of talks between Washington and Beijing, given the interconnectedness of Asia's economies and the large role China plays in driving regional growth. Rhee was speaking at a BOK conference that also featured US Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up In his comments, Waller had indicated that 10 per cent tariffs may be manageable for businesses in the US as he talked about the likely scenarios that could play out. 'Many businessmen here also say 10 per cent is manageable,' Rhee said, while flagging the importance of Trump's non-reciprocal levies. Rhee said sectoral tariffs were just as important as reciprocal levies for South Korea given the high levels of its exports of semiconductors, steel, aluminium and cars. items that are all subject to separate duties. 'Sectoral tariffs and what's going to happen after Jul 9 is one of the key issues here,' he said. Inflation expectations Following up on Waller's comment that he focuses on market-based measures of inflation expectations, rather than volatile household surveys, Rhee offered a different view. The BOK governor said that Korea's market-based measures are harder to interpret due to limited market depth. 'Our market measure is quite hard to use directly because our market is quite shallow,' Rhee said, adding that prices often respond more to shifts in liquidity than to actual changes in expectations. BLOOMBERG
Korea Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
BOK slashes growth forecast by half to 0.8%
Korea faces slowest growth since 2009 as central bank cuts rates to spur recovery South Korea's central bank nearly halved its economic growth projection for this year to 0.8 percent on Thursday, reflecting deepening challenges both at home and abroad. In a bid to support the struggling economy, the Bank of Korea also delivered a quarter-point base rate cut. The revised estimate for gross domestic product growth, a key measure of economic performance, is down 0.7 percentage point from the BOK's previous forecast of 1.5 percent made in February. The downgrade factors in the 0.2 percent economic contraction in the first quarter and heightened trade risks, including US tariff actions. If realized, this would mark the first time since 2009 that the nation's growth rate falls below 2 percent, excluding the pandemic-triggered contraction in 2020. The last instance was when the GDP rose by 0.8 percent in 2009, hit by the global financial crisis. 'The economy is facing challenges, but it's difficult to compare the current situation to that of 2008,' BOK Governor Rhee Chang-yong said at a press conference following the Monetary Policy Board meeting. 'At that time, Korea's potential growth rate was around 3 percent. Now, it has fallen to 2 percent. A 0.8 percent growth is certainly painful, but it's not a crisis on the scale of 2008.' The BOK's revised projection aligns with recent adjustments from other institutions. The Korea Development Institute, for instance, also halved its growth outlook from 1.6 percent to 0.8 percent. Despite the downgrade for 2025, the BOK trimmed next year's growth forecast by just 0.2 percentage point to 1.6 percent, suggesting an anticipated recovery. 'Over the past two years, construction investment has been the biggest drag on growth,' said Rhee. 'The sector had overheated during the real estate boom and is now undergoing a sharp correction, which we expect to stabilize within this year.' The BOK maintained its inflation outlook for 2025 at 1.9 percent, signaling that consumer prices are expected to follow a stable trajectory despite slower growth. To stimulate economic activity, the central bank lowered the base rate by 0.25 percentage point to 2.5 percent. This marks the fourth rate cut since the BOK began easing in October 2024. All six voting members of the Monetary Policy Board supported the rate cut, excluding Governor Rhee, whose vote is not disclosed. Four of the six members were open to further easing within the next three months, while the remaining two expressed opposition. With the latest decision, the interest rate gap between South Korea and the US has widened to 2 percentage points. However, the recent appreciation of the Korean won has helped mitigate concerns over capital outflows and foreign exchange volatility. 'The won's earlier depreciation was excessive compared to the underlying fundamentals of the Korean economy. Its current appreciation is a normalization process,' said Rhee. Attention now turns to the US Federal Reserve's upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for June 17-18. The next BOK rate-setting meeting will be held on July 10.
Business Upturn
02-05-2025
- Health
- Business Upturn
American Urological Association Names New Officers and Board Members
BALTIMORE, May 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The American Urological Association (AUA) today announced the following new officers and members to its Board of Directors: Lane Palmer, MD, will serve as the 2025-2026 AUA president, having served as president-elect since May 2024. Dr. Palmer has served as chair of the AUA-SPU Task Force on Intersex and Transgenderism which has been instrumental in deterring efforts in passing legislation which would ban surgery on children with Intersex conditions during childhood and is a past-president of the AUA New York Section. He is currently a Professor of Urology and Pediatrics at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and Chief of Pediatric Urology at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York at Northwell Health. Eugene Y. Rhee, MD, MBA, has been named AUA 2025-2026 president-elect. Dr. Rhee served as AUA Public Policy chair from 2020 to 2024, was a graduate of the AUA Leadership Program and a distinguished AUA Gallagher Health Policy Scholar. Dr. Rhee currently holds dual leadership roles as Chief of Urology for Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Area Assistant Medical Director for Business Line & Finance for Kaiser Permanente San Diego. Stephen Y. Nakada, MD, FACS, FRCS, is now the immediate past president of the AUA. Dr. Nakada served as the AUA president from 2024 to 2025. He has also been President of the R.O.C.K. Society, the Society of Academic Urologists, the Endourological Society and the American Board of Urology. Dr. Nakada is currently a professor and chairman of the Department of Urology, and the David T. Uehling chair of Urology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, WI. Jennifer U. Miles-Thomas, MD, MBA, joins the AUA Board as Treasurer this year, serving as Treasurer-elect 2024-2025. Dr. Miles-Thomas has served as a mentor in the AUA Leadership Program, contributed to the AUA Leadership & Business Education Committee, hosted multiple AUA podcasts focused on the Business of Urology and sat on the Mid-Atlantic AUA Board of Directors. She is currently the Vice Chair of Regional Integration and Innovation in the Department of Urology at Northwestern Medicine. Adam S. Kibel, MD, MHCM, joins the Board as the New England Section Representative. His leadership positions include serving on the AUA Quality Council, the NCCN-Prostate Screening Guidelines Committee, the NCI Genitourinary Trial Steering Committee, the CALGB Executive Committee and President-elect of the Society of Urologic Oncology. Dr. Kibel is currently the chair of Urology at Mass General Brigham, the Elliott Carr Cutler professor of surgery at Harvard University, the DiNovi chair of Urology at BWH, the chair of the Harvard Residency Program (BWH) and Disease Center co-leader of the Dana Farber GU Oncology Program. Ronald P. Kaufman Jr., MD, joins the Board as the Northeastern Section Representative. Dr. Kaufman was a member of the inaugural AUA Leadership Program in 2004, was chair of the AUA Coding and Reimbursement Committee, served as a consultant to the AMA Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel and is a past president of the New York State Urological Society and the Northeastern Section of the AUA. He is currently a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Urology at Albany Medical College in Albany, New York. The AUA would like to recognize and thank the Board members whose terms concluded on April 30, 2025. Randall Meacham, MD, has completed his years of presidential service along with regional Section Representatives, Arthur Tarantino, MD, from New England, Hassan Razvi, MD, from Northeastern, and former Treasurer, Thomas Stringer, MD. A full list of AUA Board members is now available at About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology and has nearly 26,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. Attachment American Urological Association Names New Officers and Board Members Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.
Korea Herald
18-04-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Korea's W12tr extra budget to boost economy by 0.1%p
The South Korean government's proposed supplementary budget worth 12.2 trillion won ($8.6 billion) is projected to stimulate growth in the country's gross domestic product by 0.1 percentage point, officials said Friday. The government passed the extra budget proposal at an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on Friday. Of the 12.2 trillion won, roughly 4 trillion won will be injected into shoring up key industries affected by trade tensions and advancing the artificial intelligence sector, while 3 trillion won will be allocated to disaster recovery and 4 trillion won will be put into boosting domestic demand. The Finance Ministry, responsible for overseeing the additional budget, projected that the 12.2 trillion won injection could boost the local economy by 0.1 percentage point. "The figures would have to be tested, but the supplementary budget is likely to lift (GDP) growth by 0.1 percentage point," said Kim Yoon-sang, second vice minister at the Finance Ministry, at a press briefing Thursday. The Bank of Korea offered a similar outlook, projecting a boost to growth, but only a limited one due to the budget's relatively small size. "The execution of a 12 trillion won supplementary budget could boost the economic growth rate by 0.1 percentage point," BOK Gov. Rhee Chang-yong said at a separate press briefing held Thursday shortly after the central bank's rate-setting decision. At the briefing, Rhee warned that the central bank may have to reduce its estimate of the country's GDP growth rate for this year and further suggested Korea's economy may have contracted in the first three months of this year. The Bank of Korea's February forecast of 1.5 percent economic growth for this year — sharply downgraded from the 2.3 percent projected a year earlier — is facing further downward pressure as US tariff measures are expected to weigh heavily on Korea's exports, a key driver of its GDP. "It is not appropriate for me (as the central bank governor) to speak about how large the budget should be," Rhee said. "But I can say that it would be better for the budget to be limited to one-off spending to ensure it does not lead to a structural fiscal deficit." The government is to submit the budget to the National Assembly for approval on Tuesday.
Korea Herald
17-04-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
[Editorial] Holding the line
BOK holds rates steady amid currency jitters; Gov. Rhee's comments cast long shadow As widely anticipated, the Bank of Korea held its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.75 percent Thursday, taking a cautious pause amid economic volatility and an atmosphere of uncertainty sparked by the Trump administration's erratic tariff maneuvers. In its official statement, the central bank said it was maintaining the current rate to allow space for assessing shifting domestic and global conditions. Central to its calculus were Washington's capricious trade actions, Seoul's planned fiscal stimulus and heightened instability in the foreign exchange market. The decision comes against the backdrop of sharp swings in the value of the Korean won and a host of financial pressure points: mounting household debt, wobbly housing prices and a shifting outlook for US Federal Reserve policy. The won exchange rate rose to an intraday high of 1,487.60 per dollar on April 9 — following the imposition of 'reciprocal' tariffs from the US — before easing to close at 1,456.4 the next day after US President Donald Trump announced an unexpected 90-day pause. Thursday's freeze follows the BOK's decision to hold rates steady in January and cut them by 25 basis points in February, signaling a tentative recalibration in light of deepening uncertainty. But what drew even more scrutiny than the policy move itself was Gov. Rhee Chang-yong's assessment of South Korea's economic outlook. With the global economy on edge and an escalating tariff conflict between the US and China, markets listened closely for any signals from Asia's fourth-largest economy. Rhee did not mince words. At a postdecision press conference, he likened the impact of heavy US tariffs to 'suddenly entering a dark tunnel.' 'The idea is to adjust the pace (of monetary policy) and wait for the light to come on,' he said. 'The uncertainty about the future growth path is so great that it is difficult to set even a basic case scenario for the outlook.' He added that the central bank's new growth forecast, due next month, is expected to be 'significantly lower' — hinting that the earlier projection of 1.5 percent could be revised downward more sharply than previously assumed. Rhee's remarks came on the heels of a downgrade by Morgan Stanley, which slashed its 2024 forecast for Korea's economic growth from 1.5 percent to 1 percent, citing escalating uncertainty from US tariffs and mounting challenges for Korean exports. The firm projects a 1.4 percent recovery in 2026. Bleak assessments have come from elsewhere as well. JP Morgan predicted growth would fall to 0.7 percent this year, while London-based Capital Economics projected 0.9 percent — forecasts that underscore just how vulnerable Korea's trade-dependent economy remains to external shocks. On the currency front, Rhee said the won was undervalued in light of the nation's economic fundamentals. He expressed confidence that its value would recover once fears over US trade policy and domestic political instability subside. Notably, he pointed to political factors as a source of market turbulence — referring to former President Yoon Suk Yeol's attempt to invoke martial law as a key reason behind the won's underperformance, even amid a broader decline in the US dollar. Rhee also acknowledged Korea's exposure to global headwinds, particularly due to its deep trade integration with China and heavy reliance on exports — factors that heighten its vulnerability to sudden shifts in US policy. Looking ahead, analysts say the BOK is unlikely to delay another rate cut in May. With first-quarter GDP growth potentially dipping into negative territory and the outlook for the year growing increasingly grim, monetary policymakers may soon have little choice but to act. A potential rate cut in May, however, would arrive at a politically charged moment: The nation is set to elect a new president on June 3. Rhee stressed that any monetary decision will be made from a position of political neutrality. It is equally imperative that presidential contenders respect the independence of the central bank and resist the temptation to exert undue influence. Economic stewardship must be grounded in sound policy, not campaign expediency.
