South Korea’s money supply continued to increase in July from a month earlier amid an extended tightening policy mode, central bank data showed Friday.

The country’s M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 4,053.9 trillion won (US$2.944 trillion) in July, up 0.4 percent from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The M2 is a measure of the money supply that counts cash, demand deposits and other easily convertible financial instruments.

The central bank has been implementing a restrictive mode as it delivered seven consecutive hikes in borrowing costs from April 2022 to January 2023 to tame soaring inflation in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Last month, the BOK held its key interest rate steady at 3.5 percent for the 13th straight time amid rising household debt and moderating inflation.

Source: Yonhap News Agency