Korea plans to boost ailing exports

The plans are part of the Korea government's broader move to shield its exports from China's slowdown and the prolonged weakness in JPY. South Korea is seeing the continual weakness in exports and softer domestic consumption from the MERS outbreak.

The government announced measures to boost its ailing exports which have fallen by an average of 5% in H1 compared to 2.4% in 2014. This includes the provision of USD14.3bn in trade financing for the next two years, as well as USD5.8bn of investment over the next three years in R&D capabilities for 18 emerging products and technologies.  

"BoK keeps rates on hold till the end of this year as it guards against an already high household debt, with growth supportive measures likely to come from the fiscal side", says Commerzbank.