Finance ministry, BOK to hold policy coordination meeting next week

(ATTN: CORRECTS date element in 3rd para; ADDS background info in last 3 paras) SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's finance ministry and the central bank will hold their first policy consultation meeting earlier next week aimed at exchanging views on how to run the nation's macroeconomic policies, a government official said Friday. The meeting will be held earlier on Monday in central Seoul between Vice Finance Minister Yim Jong-yong and Lee Ju-yeol, senior deputy governor at the Bank of Korea (BOK), according to Hong Nam-ki, the ministry's spokesperson. Six senior officials from each side will also attend the meeting, he added. "Each side will likely share its views on inflation situations in major countries and discuss other external risks," Hong told reporters during a briefing on next week's schedules. The meeting comes after Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan and BOK Gov. Kim Choong-soo agreed last month to hold a monthly gathering to enhance coordination on crafting macroeconomic policies. Policy coordination between the two has been in high demand as South Korea's economy is facing growing anxiety over persistently high inflation. Higher price levels along with the lingering debt crisis in Europe are feared to negatively affect the nation's ongoing economic recovery. The government said earlier its top policy priority during the second half of this year is to tame surging inflation, stressing the need for cooperation with the central bank. South Korea's consumer prices, a main gauge of inflation, jumped 4.4 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from a 4.1 percent advance in May. Late last month, the government raised its annual inflation target to 4 percent from 3 percent, saying that it will place its top priority on prices stability during the remainder of this year.