US may shift toward tighter monetary policy: financial authorities

Washington may shift toward a tighter monetary policy as the U.S. Federal Reserve underscored its commitment to taming inflation, South Korea's financial authorities said Thursday. Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol made the assessment alongside Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Shin Hyun-song, Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon and Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Chan-jin as they discussed the outcome of the overnight Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday (U.S. time) held its benchmark interest rate steady in its first rate decision since Chair Kevin Warsh took office last month, with at least half of policymakers anticipating higher rates later this year. The U.S. central bank decided unanimously to leave the rate unchanged at a range of 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent, marking its fourth consecutive pause. The "dot plot" projection chart showed that nine of the 19 FOMC participants expected borrowing costs to be higher by year-end. Warsh did not submit a dot plot projection. "The global financial market had expected the FOMC to holdWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times