[2026 National Assembly Audit] New 'M2' Measure Draws Concerns Over Money Supply Distortion... Shin Hyun-song: "Will Keep Publishing Old Measure"

Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song said on the 12th that the Bank will continue publishing the old broad money (M2) measure, which had been scheduled to stop being published at the end of this year.

Shin made the remarks that afternoon during a parliamentary audit of the Bank of Korea by the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee, after Park Soo-young of the People Power Party raised concerns about alleged hasty revisions and the possibility of distorting the indicator.

Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyunsong answers lawmakers’ questions during a parliamentary audit at the Bank of Korea in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 12th. Photo by Yonhap News Agency’s Joint Press Corps.

The Bank of Korea revised its money supply statistics late last year and introduced a new M2 measure that excludes exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other items. The Bank said the revision was made in line with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) 2017 recommendation to update its Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual.

Park, however, raised suspicions, saying, "The timeline shows that the process moved forward with unusual haste: after a member of the Monetary Policy Board raised questions on December 27, the data agency responded in just five days." He said, "Coincidentally, discussions related to single-stock leverage gained momentum on January 6, right after the revision," adding, "There are suspicions that the excessive revision of the monetary indicator was intended to influence the general election period."

In response, Shin said, "That is not true," adding, "I believe the data agency responded quickly because it was conveying its intention to revise the measure in accordance with international standards." He continued, "The revision was not undertaken suddenly. It followed an update to the manual two years ago, based on the determination that equity ETFs differ in nature from traditional deposit-like products," explaining, "Although they were excluded from M2, they are included in a broader measure of money."

When Park urged the Bank to consider continuing to use the old M2 measure, which was to be published alongside the new one only until the end of this year before being discontinued entirely, or even reverting to the old measure, Shin replied, "We will continue publishing the old measure after the end of the year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.