Koo Yoon-cheol, deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, on the morning of Jan. 8 held a market situation review meeting at the Korea Federation of Banks in Seoul with Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin and Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young. They discussed financial market trends.

They assessed financial markets as broadly stable, saying the stock market has been buoyant on inflows of foreign investment funds and government bond yields have remained steady. They said one-way expectations of won weakness have eased somewhat in the foreign exchange market, but volatility remains high.

Koo said it was important for policymakers to continue firm and consistent policy efforts as the current exchange rate diverges from fundamentals. He said follow-up measures should also be pushed ahead swiftly.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance said it decided to keep its 24-hour monitoring system running while keeping a close watch on external conditions, centering on the market situation review meeting, as risk factors such as geopolitical uncertainty and major countries' monetary policies persist.

Koo said the government would back a rebound in potential growth by fully rolling out "productive finance" that redirects fund flows toward advanced industries, venture and start-ups, and capital markets. He said it would begin support this year for a National Growth Fund totaling 30 trillion won and plans to launch a public-participation fund worth 600 billion won.

He added that the government would swiftly draw up measures to promote long-term investment in domestic stocks, including launching domestic market return account (RIA) products as early as possible. He said it would smoothly carry out the planned inclusion in the World Government Bond Index (WGBI) in April and would also actively pursue inclusion in MSCI's developed market index.