08/08/21 06:56:51 JBferOS9
フィナンシャル・タイムズにあの“Korea: 1997 rewind”への反論が掲載されている
Korea will again show ability to meet economic challenges
Published: August 20 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 20 2008 03:00
From Mr Kyu-Ok Kim.
URLﾘﾝｸ(www.ft.com)
Sir, Lex (“Korea: 1997 rewind”, August 13) states that some of the macroeconomic conditions
in Korea seem eerily similar to those preceding the 1997 financial crisis.
With all due respect to the usually penetrating insight of the FT editors, I am not ready to
accept this assessment. Contrary to the rather bleak picture Lex paints of the Korean economy,
I believe Asia's fourth-largest economy is far healthier and more resilient than the figures
in the column might suggest.
First of all, let me point out that foreign exchange reserves in Korea are the sixth-largest
in the world with $248bn at the end of July this year, and these figures are roughly 11 times
the pre-crisis levels ($22.3bn at the end of October 1997).
It is true that external debt more than doubled during this period in absolute terms.
However, I believe that one should place this growing external debt in perspective,
not only as a percentage of national output, but also in terms of its sources and
quality compared with the 1997 financial crisis.
Recent growth of external debt in Korea has risen as a counterpart to hedging activity
and with increasing foreign purchases of government bonds, in stark contrast to massive
foreign currency short-term borrowings that led to the 1997 financial crisis.
I would also like to remind you that the ratio of external debt as a percentage of gross
domestic product, standing at 39 per cent as of the end of 2007, is deemed sound
compared to other major economies.