SEOUL, KOREA - Korea and China have agreed to extend the bilateral currency swap arrangement for another three years. Bank of Korea governor Lee Ju-yeol and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Xiaochuan of People's Bank of China signed an agreement on October 11 in the United States to renew the won-yuan currency swap deal to October 10, 2017. The volume of the swap scheme will be retained at 64 trillion won, or about 360 billion yuan.

 

With this, the two countries have extended the pact twice since they arrived at an accord for the first time in April 2009. The latest agreement had been made earlier in June last year when Korean President Park Geun-hye met her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and made a joint statement "Korea-China future vision joint communique."

 

A Bank of Korea official said, "The renewal of the currency swap deal will contribute meaningfully to encouragement of the bilateral trade and regional financial stability. Korean firms doing business in China can increase their yuan payments and thus facilitate trade."