Lee Chang-yong points out that interest rate cuts are not effective, saying, "It's hard to deny."

Opposition Party "Lossed Interest Rate Cut, Ineffective"
The ruling party said, "Couldn't you cut 0.5%p like the U.S.?"
Changyong criticizes 'deferring interest rate cuts due to policy confusion'
Lee Chang-yong, "It's a shame that SKY University rejects the 'regional proportional selection system'."

[Anchor]
Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-yong said it is hard to deny criticism that the timing of the rate cut is too late to be effective.

In a parliamentary audit of the Bank of Korea, Governor Lee responded to lawmakers' questions about whether the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Committee's decision to cut the benchmark interest rate last week missed its timing.

Reporter Ryu Hwan-hong reports.

[Reporter]
The National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee's parliamentary audit of the central bank came three days after the Bank of Korea changed its monetary policy stance by lowering its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage point for the first time in three years and two months.

Opposition lawmakers stressed that financial authorities had aided and abetted a surge in house prices and household loans, which had missed the timing of the key rate cut and had no effect on the rate cut.

[Ahn Do-gul / Minjoo Party of Korea National Assembly member: We followed with a time difference of about 4 months compared to other countries, and the market already ran a shelf operation, so there was no stimulating effect from the market]

The ruling party lawmakers asked if they could not cut 0.5 percentage points like the U.S., rather than cut 0.25%.

[Rep. Park Soo-min / People's Power] I would like to discuss these policy combinations to help the self-employed with a "big cut" and to make the government more aggressive with supply measures against the pressure of rising real estate.]

Governor Lee acknowledged the criticism that he is not confident about household debt and that the timing of a rate cut has been pushed back due to policy confusion.

[Lee Chang-yong / Governor of the Bank of Korea: The goal was to stabilize real estate Pf in some way, so I think it's a good point in hindsight that we didn't predict when real estate prices or household debt would go up]

Governor Lee felt sorry that universities rejected the "regional proportional selection system" proposed by the Bank of Korea as an alternative to curb housing prices in Seoul.

[Cha Kyu-geun / National Assemblyman of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party: Most of them expressed their negative stance, saying, 'Seoul National University is difficult in reality, Korea University is premature, Yonsei University has not reviewed it and should approach it in the long run.']

[Lee Chang-yong / Governor of the Bank of Korea: No other university in the world chooses people in one area this much. This system could change, apart from all the real estate stuff, with the idea that our universities just pick people from different regions instead of just one in one area....]

Lee took the first step in lowering interest rates, but said the pace would be determined after the U.S. presidential election by looking at the international situation, the Middle East crisis, housing prices and household debt trends.

I'm YTN's Ryu Hwan Hong.