S. Korean Currency Logs Sharpest Fall of over 7% in 2024 since 2008

The South Korean currency has dropped more than 7% against the US dollar so far this year, marking the sharpest fall since the 2008 global financial crisis amid geopolitical uncertainties and the resurgent dollar, data showed Sunday. The Korean won closed at 1,382.2 won against the greenback Friday, down 7.3% from 1,288 won logged at the end of last year, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported. It marked the biggest drop since March 1990, when the country adopted the market average exchange rate system in place of the multiple-basket pegged system. During the same period of 2008, South Korea saw its currency tumble 6.9% against the greenback, and the figure for 2009 came to 5.8%. Last week, the Korean won skidded to the closely watched level of 1,400 won during intraday trading, though verbal interventions by financial authorities capped further declines. During the first trilateral finance ministers' meeting last week, top policymakers from South Korea, the United States and Japan voiced "serious con cerns about the recent sharp depreciation" of the South Korean won and Japanese yen. The government is now operating a 24-hour market monitoring system. Any further marked drop would be unlikely, though it would largely depend on how things will unfold in the Middle East. Source: Qatar News Agency