Gasoline exceeds 1,700 won in 5 months, red light for price management

by times news cr

2024-04-20 06:44:56

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Choi Sang-mok, video emergency inspection meeting

An employee filling up gas at a gas station in downtown Seoul. 2024.4.14 News 1

As the crisis in the Middle East escalates due to Israel’s counterattack against Iran, the government’s economic team appears to be on alert. As the won-dollar exchange rate soared amid high interest rates and high oil prices overlapped, a red light was turned on for price management.

Gasoline exceeds 1,700 won in 5 months, red light for price management

On the 19th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Sang-mok (pictured) held an emergency external economic review meeting via video conference in Washington, USA. While on a visit to the United States, when reports emerged that morning that Israel had struck facilities in Iran, the scheduled meeting was upgraded and an emergency meeting was chaired. Deputy Prime Minister Choi emphasized, “Please strengthen the pan-ministerial emergency response system with a higher sense of vigilance than ever before,” and added, “In the foreign exchange market, we will take immediate and decisive action against excessive market fluctuations that deviate from fundamentals.”

As Middle East risks prolong, the government’s concerns about inflation are deepening. Although we were confident that the consumer price inflation rate would settle in the 2% range in the second half of this year (July to December), unexpected negative news has increased. As the prices of agricultural products are skyrocketing and the exchange rate is rising, the food industry has recently been raising the prices of processed foods one after another. The average selling price of gasoline at gas stations nationwide, which is rising reflecting international oil prices, recorded 1,701.69 won on the 18th, exceeding the 1,700 won level for the first time since November of last year. Kim Byeong-hwan, First Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, held a meeting of Vice Ministers on Price Relations on this day and said, “We will focus on checking to ensure that oil prices do not rise excessively by taking advantage of the rising international oil prices.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Choi expressed a negative stance in response to the opposition party’s request for a supplementary budget, saying, “Supplementary budgets are usually carried out when there is an economic recession.” He met with reporters in Washington on the 18th (local time) and said, “Right now, the role of finance is to provide support to target groups centered on people’s livelihoods and the socially underprivileged.”


Sejong = Reporter Kim Do-hyung [email protected]

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2024-04-20 06:44:56

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