Korea off U.S. currency monitoring list, Japan added

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Korea off U.S. currency monitoring list, Japan added

Published: 21 Jun. 2024, 09:38 Updated: 24 Jun. 2024, 15:00

PARK EUN-JEE
park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr

Signage is seen at the United States Department of the Treasury headquarters in Washington, D.C. [REUTERS]

The United States removed Korea from the list of countries on its currency monitoring list for the second consecutive time, adding Japan to the list.

The U.S. Treasury said on Thursday that Vietnam, China, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan were included on the monitoring list. Switzerland also remains out of the list, the same as in the 2023 November report.

Still, Japan was added to the list as it has had significant bilateral surplus and current account surplus, according to the latest report.

Korea had been on the list since April 2016, excluding a brief respite in the first half of 2019.

Countries that meet at least two of three criteria — a bilateral trade surplus of over $15 billion with the United States, a material current account surplus of more than 3 percent of a country’s GDP or persistent one-sided intervention in the foreign currency market — are named on the list.

Korea met only one criterion — the trade surplus of more than $15 billion — during the relevant period.

The Treasury cited China as "an outlier," in terms of currency manipulation and trade imbalances.

"China’s failure to publish foreign exchange (FX) intervention and broader lack of transparency around key features of its exchange rate mechanism continues to make it an outlier among major economies and warrants Treasury’s close monitoring," it said in the report.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]