[THE INVESTOR] The head of international credit rating agency Fitch Ratings, along with a delegation, met with South Korea’s finance minister to discuss the economic situation and Korea’s macroeconomic policies, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance here confirmed Aug. 26.

In a meeting with Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho in Seoul, Thomas Rookmaaker, head of Asia-Pacific sovereigns at Fitch, said South Korea has seen steady economic growth and maintained fiscal soundness, along with its efforts to push forward with sweeping structural reform, according to the finance ministry.

At the same time, he added that Asia’s fourth-largest economy should carefully cope with geopolitical issues related to North Korean provocations.

Yoo said the South Korean government has been making constant efforts to manage external and internal negative risks, take an expansionary stance to stimulate the economy, and carry out industrywide reform.

The Fitch delegation visited South Korea for the annual consultation meetings with the finance ministry from Wednesday to Friday this week to look into the country’s macroeconomic policies, including its mid- and long-term plans, and financial issues like household debt and corporate restructuring.

Fitch has maintained a stable AA- grade for South Korea since June 2012, while Standard & Poors upgraded the rating of Asia’s fourth-largest economy to AA earlier this month, the third-highest level on the company’s table. Moody’s rated the country at Aa2 in 2015.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)