BOK offers 5.2 tln won in its 1st QE operation

SEOUL, April 2 (Yonhap) -- The Bank of Korea (BOK) on Thursday provided 5.2 trillion won (US$4.2 billion) in the capital market in its first repo operation after vowing to supply an "unlimited" amount of liquidity against the new coronavirus pandemic.

The yield on the 91-day repurchase agreements was set at 0.78 percent, up 3 basis points from the base rate of 0.75 percent.

The BOK earlier said it will purchase entire amounts requested by financial companies for the next three months to help ease a liquidity crunch.

The de facto quantitative easing (QE) marks the first of its kind where the central bank will inject an "unlimited" amount of liquidity.

"It is hard to estimate how much liquidity will actually be supplied. But the plan is to supply the entire amount requested and without a limit," BOK Deputy Gov. Yoon Myun-shik said earlier.

The BOK plans to conduct repo operations every Tuesday from next week.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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