韩国央行行长申贤松纪念世界银行成立76周年致辞（英）

June12,2026 Shin Hyun SongGovernorBank of Korea *This is an unofficial translationoftheoriginal speech released on June12,2026. Distinguished colleagues of the Bank of Korea, Today marks the 76th anniversary of the founding of the Bank of Korea. I would like to takethis opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to our predecessors, who have devotedthemselves to the development of both the Bank of Korea and our economy sincethe Bank’s In my inaugural address two months ago, I outlined the broad direction for the Bank ofKorea over the next four years. Today, I would like to review the challenges currently facing our Dear colleagues, Despite heightened uncertainty surrounding developments in the Middle East, our economyhas recently seen a significant acceleration in growth, driven by strong semiconductor exportsfueled by the global expansion of AI. As you are well aware, GDP growth reached 1.8 percentquarter on quarter in the first quarter of this year, substantially exceeding earlier expectations. In Going forward, the domestic economy is expected to maintain solid growth momentum.While the semiconductor sector continues to perform well, domestic demand is also projected to On the other hand, concerns regarding inflation have intensified as the war in the Middle East has continued for more than three months. As the effects of higher international oil priceshave become more pronounced, consumer price inflation rose to the 3 percent range in May.Core inflation, which had previously shown signs of stabilization, also increased to the mid-2percent range, driven by price increases in certain personal services. Notably, the cost of living,which is closely related to households' perceived inflation, is rising faster thanheadline Risks also remain on the financial stability front. In the Seoul metropolitan housing market,housing sale prices,jeonse leasehold deposits,andmonthly rentshave continued to increasesharply, and expectations of further price hikes have risen again. In addition, the surge in stock In the foreign exchange market, the Korean won to U.S. dollar exchange rate remainselevated in the 1,500 won range despite rising stock prices and a large current account surplus, asforeignequitycapital continues to flow out of the market. However,somemarket participantsexpect the won-dollar exchange rate to gradually stabilize going forward, as the large current Dearcolleagues, Taken together, current developments in growth, inflation, and financial stability point relatively clearly in one direction from a monetary policy perspective. The data received sinceour May monetary policy decision meeting have also reinforced this view. Monetary policy is often subject to trade-offs between policy variables, but such trade-offsare not significant at this time. Therefore, we need to focus on price stability, and raisethe Base Since the burden of inflation is felt more acutely by lower-income households, proactiveefforts to maintain price stability are also a way to prevent that burden from becoming evenheavier for them. To be sure, higher interest rates inevitably increase debt-servicing burdens for My dear colleagues, Next, I would like to talk about structural challenges directly related to monetary policy. From a financial perspective, we will continue to closely monitor potential risks of thehousing market and household debt, and maintain close coordination with the government’smacroprudential policy efforts. In addition, in the medium-to long-term, sustained efforts willalso be required to ease the concentration of economic activity in the Seoul metropolitan area From a real economy perspective, as I mentioned earlier, despite the spillover effects of the Middle East conflict, the semiconductor industry hascontinued to experiencean exceptionalboom driven by the global AI surge and business conditions in several other key manufacturing That said, while the current performance reflects years of sustained effort and dedication, wemust also recognize that it has been supported in significant part by a more favorable externalenvironment. At times like these, it is important not to become complacent about short-termachievements. Rather, we should take a clear-eyed view of our circumstances and prepare for the These developments could ultimately have important implications for both the economy'spotential growth rate and the neutral interest rate. Accordingly, from a monetary policy Dear colleagues, The tasks I haveoutlined today cannot be addressed by any single department alone. Thebest decisions are made when departments work closely together, share information openly, andmaintain a common understanding of the challenges we face. For my part, I will actively engage When I assumed office as Governor, I came with high expectations for our staff. Over thepast two months, having worked closely with many of you, I have been both impressed anddelighted to find that your capabilities exceed even those