Dec 18 (Reuters) - The following is a chronology of key measures South Korea has taken to tackle the financial crisis and boost its flagging economy:
Dec. 18 - South Korea will launch a 20 trillion won ($15.1 billion) fund in January to help banks replenish capital and encourage them to lend into the cash-strapped economy, the top regulator said on Thursday.[ID:SEO228641]. The finance ministry also pledged to continue to supply liquidity to money markets next year to bolster the economy through aggressive open market operations.[ID:nSEW000029]
Dec. 17 - A government-proposed bond market stabilisation fund to purchase unpopular corporate bonds up to 10 trillion won launched, with the central bank initially chipping in about 2.1 trillion won to the fund. [ID:nSEO223140]
Dec. 16 - South Korea will pump $1.2 billion worth securities into three state-run banks in December to boost their capital base and help the banks provide funding to cash-poor local companies. [ID:nSEO121733]
Dec. 15 - South Korea plans to spend about 14 trillion won over the next four years on improving and redeveloping the country's four main rivers and adjacent areas. [ID:nSEO165586]
Dec. 15 - The Finance Ministry will buy 1.2 trillion won worth of treasury bonds on Friday ahead of maturity to return extra funds secured to investors [ID:nSEV000549]
Dec.14 - South Korea's total state spending for 2009 is finalised at 284.5 trillion won, up 10.6 percent from this year. The government plans to lay out 60 percent of the budget in the first half of next year to achieve a 3 percent growth, well above the central bank's projection of 2 percent. [ID:nT143631]
Dec. 12 - The Bank of Korea signed bilateral currency swap deals with Japan and China, respectively, beefing up its credit lines to about $62 billion equivalent from $17 billion. [ID:nSP283370]
Dec. 12 - State debt clearer Korea Asset Management Corp will buy 1 trillion won worth of bad loans from banks in December, on top of a previous target of 800 billion won worth of purchases in 2008. [ID:nSEO112352]
Dec. 11 - The Bank of Korea cut its key interest rate by an unprecedented full one percentage point to a record low of 3 percent to help Asia's fourth-largest economy cope with the global downturn. [ID:nSEV000545]
Dec. 11 - The Bank of Korea said it would add 12 local brokerage houses to the list of its repurchase agreement trading partners in a bid to ease credit squeeze. [ID:nSEO94121]
Dec. 10 - South Korea plans to sell 250 billion won in collateralised bond obligations on Thursday with smaller companies' bonds as underlying assets. [ID:nSEW000026]
Dec. 9 - South Korea will step up efforts to weed out and close troubled companies, including ailing builders, as the economic downturn is expected to send more firms into financial difficulty, a top financial regulator said. [ID:nSEO28671]
Dec. 9 - The Bank of Korea lends $3 billion in dollars to local banks using its dollar credit line at the U.S. Federal Reserve for the second time. [ID:nSEO316983]
Dec. 3 - The Bank of Korea will pay one-time interest totalling about 500 billion won on local banks' cash reserves in early December. [ID:nSEO298935]
Dec. 2 - The Bank of Korea injects $4 billion in dollars to local banks using its dollar credit line at the U.S. Federal Reserve for the first time. [ID:nSEL000381]
Nov. 24 - The Bank of Korea pledges to provide as much as half of a proposed 10 trillion won bond market stabilisation fund to help ease a credit crunch plaguing the financial sector, adding it would print new money to do so. [ID:nSEO2000]
Nov. 19 - The Bank of Korea injects 1 trillion won into financial system by purchasing Treasuries. [ID:nSEO333719]
Nov. 13 - The Financial Services Commission proposes a 10 trillion won fund to invest in bonds issued by local banks and companies. [ID:nSEO240220]
Nov. 13 - The Bank of Korea will offer a fresh $10 billion to exporters for trade finance and the Finance Ministry will provide $6 billion for both exporters and importers, the authorities say. [ID:nSEO240220]
Nov. 11 - The Bank of Korea begins to buy bank bonds. The central bank injects 1 trillion won into local banking system via 63-day repurchase agreements with bonds issued by banks serving as collateral. [ID:nSEL000336]
Nov. 7 - The Bank of Korea cuts its policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.00 percent, the third cut in a month, amid growing concerns over fast cooling economy. [ID:nSEO51448]
Nov. 3 - The government unveils an economic stimulus package worth at least 14 trillion won ($11 billion) in an attempt to secure a soft landing for Asia's fourth-largest economy in the face of a looming global recession. [ID:nSEV000528]
Oct. 30 - The Bank of Korea ties up a $30 billion currency swap facility with the U.S. Federal Reserve to ease a dollar crunch at local financial companies. [ID:nSP414786]
Oct. 27 - The Bank of Korea cuts its base rate by 75 basis points to 4.25 percent, the biggest cut on record, in an emergency action to stabilise markets and boost the economy. [ID:nSEU000096]
Oct. 27 - The Bank of Korea chops its special rate for lending to small- and midium-sized companies by 75 basis points. [ID:nSEU000097]
Oct. 23 - The Bank of Korea raises the ceiling on low-interest loans to smaller companies for the first time in seven years.
Oct. 21 - The government offers to spend 5 trillion won buying unsold new homes and land that local builders want to sell to finance their debt payments. [ID:nSEO346755]
Oct. 19 - The country's top three financial authorities jointly announce measures to calm markets, including a plan to provide government guarantee on foreign-currency borrowings.
Oct. 17 - The Bank of Korea says it will hold an auction every Tuesday from Oct. 21 to supply dollars through dollar/won swap deals to a larger number of commercial banks to ease dollar shortages. [ID:nSEO264901]
Oct. 17 - State-run National Pension Service says it will buy bonds issued by commercial banks and local companies to ease a deepening credit crunch.
Oct. 15 - The Bank of Korea says it will buy $10 billion worth of U.S. treasuries by the end of this year from the state-run pension service to rebuild steadily falling foreign exchange reserves. [ID:nSEO240387]
Oct. 10 - The Financial Services Commission says it will require all banks to submit their foreign exchange trading records to curb speculative trading and stop the won's rapid decline against the dollar.
Oct. 9 - The won hits its lowest since the Asian financial crisis against the dollar but rebounds on reported dollar-selling intervention by the authorities.
Oct. 9 - Finance Minister Kang Man-soo asks major exporters to offload their dollar holdings and help the foreign exchange market stabilise. Since then, steelmaker POSCO <005490.KS>, Hyundai Motor <005380.KS> and Samsung Electronics <005930.KS> sell hundreds of millions of dollars. [ID:nSEO91472]
Oct. 9 - The Bank of Korea cuts its main interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.00 percent from a 7-1/2-year high of 5.25 percent, joining a round of worldwide rate cuts aimed at tackling global financial market turmoil. [ID:nSEO278751]
Oct. 9 - The Finance Ministry says it will offer 800 billion won in a financial support package to small and medium-sized companies by providing insurance on sales receivables and loans. [ID:nSEO898181]
Oct. 6 - The Finance Ministry says it will inject $5 billion to domestic banks and cash-strapped exporters through the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea.
Sept. 30 - South Korea bans short-selling of all listed stocks and allows companies traded on the main exchange to buy back 10 times more of their own shares from the market from October [ID:nSEO281652].
Sept. 26 - The Finance Ministry says it will inject $10 billion into the local currency swap market until the middle of October to help domestic banks stave off persistent dollar funding shortages [ID:nSEV000504]. (Seoul Newsroom; Editing by Kazunori Takada)