S. Korea, Australia double currency swap deal for 3 more years

Central banks of South Korea and Australia agreed on Wednesday to double their bilateral currency swap deal for an extended period in a bid to enhance trade and financial stability.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said it reached an agreement with the Reserve Bank of Australia to extend their existing currency swap deal, in which the South Korean currency is swapped for the Australian dollar, for three more years while doubling the size of it.

The deal, which is originally scheduled to terminate on Feb. 22, will be extended to Feb. 7, 2020. The size will be expanded to 10 billion Australian dollars (7.7 billion U.S. dollars) from 5 billion Australian dollars.

The BOK said the deal can be extended further when it matures, adding that it was reached to enhance financial stability and help increase trade between the two countries.

The extended deal followed the failed negotiations between South Korea and Japan about their separate currency swap agreement amid rising diplomatic friction over comfort women issue.

Comfort women include Korean women who were forced or lured into sexual slavery for Japanese military brothels before and during World War II.

Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea and consul general in South Korea's southern port city of Busan as South Korean civic group activists put up a statue of girl that symbolizes teenager comfort women victims.

South Korea has inked currency swap deals worth about 122.2 billion U.S. dollars as of Wednesday.

The country also reached 38.4 billion dollars of a multilateral currency swap agreement under the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM). Enditem