BOK head sees credit policy as useful complement to rate policy

South Korea's top central banker said Monday that credit-supportive policy should be seen as "a useful complement" to central banks' monetary policy when they are to keep price and financial stability. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo said in an opening speech at a conference on credit policy that in the wake of the global financial crisis, credit-supportive policy has been "motivated from a broader perspective to support economic recovery at large and to complement monetary easing."    His remarks came as the role of central banks is being expanded beyond the implementation of monetary policy, raising the need to support the sector lacking in smooth fund flows in the face of impaired financial intermediation and a severe economic slowdown. "In light of increasing mandates of central banks, I firmly believe that credit policy should receive far more attention than in the past as a useful complement to monetary policy in addressing price and financial stability," the governor said. BOK is working on overhauling its soft loan scheme to smaller firms. The central bank has kept the cap at the 12 trillion won (US$11.2 billion) since April when it decided to raise the ceiling to help spur loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The loans, which BOK extends through commercial banks to SMEs, carry an annual interest rate ranging from 0.5 percent to 1 percent. The loan cap is determined on a quarterly basis.