Korea’s consumer prices grew over 4 percent by the end of last year, meeting the top end of the government’s annual inflation target, raising concern that inflation could remain a drag on the nation’s economy. It also prompted President Lee Myung-bak to call for proactive action by the various ministries.
As the year 2011 drew to a close, not everything was fine with the state of the Korean economy. For one, inflation continued to spiral out of control, with the Consumer Price Index rising 4.2 percent in December from a year earlier, matching its gain in November.
According to the report by Statistics Korea, Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food costs, grew 3.6 percent from a year earlier, the largest hike for last year. It gained 0.4 percent from the previous month.
For the entire year, the nation’s consumer prices advanced 4 percent, meeting the top end of the government’s annual inflation target through 2012, the report showed. However, the government had to face harsh public criticism as inflation calculated under the previous system stood at 4.4 percent in the preceding month. The government revised the Consumer Price Index system by taking out gold prices while putting in telecommunication prices in November.
The new Consumer Price Index has a lower figure than the previous system, used since 2005. Inflation exerts a negative influence on the economy as high prices can cause consumers to reel in their spending. High crude oil, raw materials and food prices have all contributed to inflationary pressure here.
The government expects things will improve this year, predicting that consumer prices will grow 3.2 percent in 2012, down from the annual target of within 4 percent. The report showed that farm products and oil prices fueled inflationary pressure. Fresh food prices, including vegetables and fruit, dropped 3.6 percent in December from a year earlier, but agricultural, fishery and livestock prices rose 5.8 percent over the same period.
High energy costs drove up manufactured product prices, which jumped 5.3 percent on-year in December. Prices of gasoline and diesel fuel rose 9.6 percent and 14.1 percent, respectively.
Service-sector prices also grew 2.8 percent with home rental prices gaining 5 percent, the report showed. Taming inflation is one of the top priorities for policymakers.
The Bank of Korea, the nation’s central bank, said that its monetary policy goal in 2012 will be aimed at stabilizing prices. Earlier, Minister of Strategy and Finance Bahk Jae-wan said the nation is facing “tough” inflationary conditions as prices of farming goods and energy prices could continue to rise in winter.
Another report by the Korea Consumer Agency showed that prices of most daily necessities in Korea increased in December despite government efforts to fight rising inflation. The report by the state-run consumer protection watchdog showed that of the 102 everyday consumer necessities monitored such as sugar, cereals and detergents, prices of 70 products, or 68 percent, went up in December from a month earlier. Prices for 28 products fell or remained unchanged over the cited period, it showed.
The portion of products that rose vis-a-vis the previous month was much higher than the 53 percent seen in November, the agency said. The comparable figures for October and September were 52 percent and 46 percent, respectively. Prices of rice, pork and powdered red pepper surged on tight supply, and those of some vegetables also rose during the winter season, the report showed.
As if on cue, given the widespread discontent with the government efforts to stabilize prices, President Lee Myung-bak ordered the introduction this year of a system in which public officials in charge of the price of major daily goods are named. He gave the instruction during a weekly Cabinet meeting he presided over, according to his spokesman Park Jeong-ha.
“No one has been willing to take responsibility even though the price of Korean cabbage and other daily food items continue to rise,” Lee was quoted as saying during the meeting.
“We need a firm policy to set goals for managing the price of goods, mainly agricultural and livestock products, to keep them from going above a certain level,” he stressed.
The "real-name price management system" would require the government to name the public officials who oversee price hikes of specific goods chosen as indicators of inflation, thus staking their reputations on the result of their price-control efforts, officials said.
Curbing inflation within the low 3 percent range was one of President Lee's top policy goals stated in his New Year's address. He repeated the call for stabilizing consumer prices during his subsequent visit to the finance ministry to receive a briefing on the ministry's policy plan for 2012.
“I will place the price issue at the center of state management for this year,” Lee was quoted as saying by his spokeswoman for foreign media, Lee Mi-yon. “I will do so because consumer prices directly affect lives of the working-class people.”
The government has predicted the country's economic growth may fall to 3.7 percent this year from an expected growth of 3.8 percent last year, hit by sluggish demand and global economic uncertainty sparked by Europe's debt crisis. It also expects consumer prices will grow 3.2 percent in 2012, down from last year's annual target of 4 percent.
President Lee, particularly, emphasized the need for appropriate management of “consumer prices for living necessities” rather than the general price index.
“Most important are the prices of living necessities," he said. "When they are not managed well, the people may feel that the government is poorly managing prices.”
2012 Price Policies
Korea’s 2012 price policies, as announced by the Ministry of Strategy & Finance (MOSF), focus on keeping consumer price inflation in the lower 3 percent range through flexible macro-economic responses to internal and external uncertainties, improved supply systems, and steady monitoring of prices and swift actions if needed.
“To ease the burden on low-income families from increased prices of basic necessities, the government will use precise forecasts to more closely check supply and demand situations to preempt inflation. It will lower tariff rates, secure the supply of products, and prevent unfair practices to help stabilize the prices of agricultural products, manufactured goods and petroleum products, while running the government price responsibility system which will control supply and demand in a market friendly way to prevent prices from rising suddenly,” MOSF said in a press statement.
The government will also encourage fair competition, improve distribution systems, and increase accessibility of price information so that markets can set prices in a more accurate manner. Consumers will have to benefit from FTAs and the openings of other markets, with expanded choices.
The Ministry noted that it will keep an eye on the government price responsibility system, and continue to hold the weekly ministerial meeting on prices this year. The MOSF and other price-related ministries will have to monitor prices of goods and services they are in charge of, and take appropriate actions.
MOSF will examine the system for distribution of imports so that consumers can fully benefit from the effect of lower tariffs from FTAs. The ministry will also flexibly impose quota tariffs based on international commodity prices and the supply of necessities to achieve price stabilization and help ease the burden from rising costs. Dried peppers, pork, and mackerel are among the 103 products currently subject to quota tariffs. To facilitate fast delivery of those products to consumers, the government will help streamline clearance procedures, while imposing expiration dates.
The ministry will make continuous efforts to stabilize the central government’s public service fees by adjusting the timing of the increases as well as minimizing them. Whenever there is a fee increase, public firms will be required to show the result of their cost reduction efforts and plans to further reduce costs. The ministry will launch an advisory committee composed of experts from the private sector to examine cost efficiency, if necessary. To help stabilize local governments’ public service fees, the ministry will increase incentives to local governments with effective service fee systems, while launching a study to develop the most effective public service charge systems such as ones for public transportation, fresh water supply and sewage disposal.
Due to possible uncertainties from the US sanctions on Iran, the government will more closely monitor situations regarding Iranian oil imports. The government will make diplomatic efforts to minimize a possible reduction in oil imports from Iran, secure oil imports from other sources and prepare for the release of the country’s oil stockpile. Substitutes for Iranian oil are Iraqi Basra light, Kuwaiti crude, while the oil stockpile of 180 million barrels, is enough to cover demand for 77 days, the ministry said.
A recent study on “Characteristics of Korea’s Inflation by Item and Countermeasures” by Chung Jin-yung, Lee Eunmi, Lee Chan-young, Sohn Min-jung, Lee Seung-chul and Jung Dae-sun of Samsung Economic Research Institute found that a combination of external and structural factors has been creating the recent consumer inflation.
“Since symptomatic responses cannot generate the desired policy effectiveness, measures to remove structural factors which create price instability should be taken. In case of products with high import dependence, ensuring stable overseas supply sources and an improvement of its distribution system are important,” the study said.
As for food, food prices should be gradually lowered by streamlining its distribution system, raising self-sufficiency rate in major grains and securing overseas food resources. As for vehicle fuel, its supply system should be improved while reinforcing efforts to increase supply through overseas oil field development.
For items such as housing rent and education, whose prices increase mainly due to structural factors, an improvement of its supply system, redesign of related regulations and encouragement of competition will be needed. As for education, public education should be improved as well as strengthening vocational training so private education and after-school academies no longer are crucial to a student’s chances of passing the national university entrance examination. To stabilize prices for jeonse and monthly rental housing, supplies of public rental housing should be increased and quality of rental housing should be improved. As for public transportation fares, current low fares should be maintained but the high cost of maintaining the low fares should be reduced by maximizing operational efficiency of related public corporations, the SERI report states.
We now take a look at another important policy tool to control inflation.
Objectives of Monetary Policy
The objectives of monetary policy differ over time according to the economic situation of a country. The objectives of monetary policy have varied over time and in accordance with the state of the economy, but price stability is nowadays regarded as the most important objective of monetary policy. This stems from the conviction that sustainable economic growth, which is the ultimate objective of monetary policy, can only be achieved on the basis of price stability. If inflation accelerates, uncertainties over the future mount, dampening economic activities as a whole. Likewise, economic efficiency declines as a result of the distorted distribution of income and resources.
Like most other central banks, the Bank of Korea takes price stability as the most important objective of its monetary policy. The current Bank of Korea Act clearly sets out price stability as the purpose of the Bank of Korea's establishment and stipulates that it should seek to bring about price stability by setting an inflation target in consultation with the government and do its utmost to attain this target.
From the early 1980s as the instability of financial systems mounted in the course financial liberalization and market opening, several countries actually experienced financial crises. As a consequence, financial stability emerged as another major concern of monetary policy. This is because financial development and stability are essential constituents of sustainable economic growth. While an advanced and stable financial system enhances the efficiency of the distribution of resources and bolsters economic development, financial instability can trigger serious economic crises. Furthermore, considering the fact that the effects of monetary policy are transmitted to production activities and prices through the financial sector, if the financial markets suffer from instability or do not function properly, then the transmission channel of monetary policy will not work smoothly.
Correspondingly, the effects of monetary policy will fall short of their anticipated scale. For this reason, the Bank of Korea has established financial stability as an important policy objective and placed stress on it in the practical conduct of policy.
Inflation targeting is a monetary policy regime in which the central bank announces an explicit inflation target and implements policy to achieve this target directly. Choice of this regime is based on the recognition that for achieving sustainable economic growth it is important above all else that inflation expectations, which have a great effect on wage and price decisions, should be stabilized. In this regard, the central bank implements monetary policy placing great emphasis upon inducing the inflation expectations of the general public to converge with the inflation target level, by prior public announcement and successful attainment of that target level.
Since 1998, the Bank of Korea has applied inflation targeting, and set the target in consultation with the government. The inflation target for 2010 onward is 3 percent, with a tolerance range of plus/minus 1 percentage point around this target, in terms of the 12-month rate of change in the consumer price index. The Bank reviews the performance of inflation targeting annually and make a public announcement of the results. The target horizon is 3 years (2010~2012).
In order to achieve the ultimate goal of maintaining price stability, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank sets the Bank of Korea Base Rate every month after overall consideration of price movements, economic activity and financial market conditions.
Then the Bank steers the call rate to converge on the newly-set level of the Base Rate using its policy instruments. The change in the call rate affects market interest rates such as yields on CDs and Treasury bonds, and banks' deposit and loan interest rates. These changes in interest rates tend to influence consumption and investments and, as a result, inflation.
Open Market Operations
Open market operations are a policy instrument through which central banks purchase or sell securities including government and public bonds with financial institution counterparts in open markets such as the money or bond markets, and accordingly change these counterparts' funding conditions, thereby adjusting the money supply or interest rate.
The Bank of Korea carries out open market operations as and when necessary to affect the level of reserves in the banking system and to manage the overnight call rate so that it does not deviate too widely from the Bank of Korea Base Rate. These operations are conducted in two ways: The issuance of Monetary Stabilization Bonds (MSBs) and securities transactions.
MSBs, which are issued only by the Bank of Korea, originated as a major tool of monetary policy during the period when volume of government and public bonds that are essential for open market operations remained insufficient. MSBs are now used for the structural adjustment of market liquidity as they carry relatively long maturities. They are issued in different maturities ranging from 14 days to two years, among which the two-year maturity forms the majority. A ceiling on the issuance of MSBs is set by the Monetary Policy Committee every three months in consideration of market liquidity conditions.
Securities transactions involve purchases and sales in the secondary market of government securities, securities guaranteed by the government, MSBs and other types of securities specified by the Monetary Policy Committee. Securities transactions take the form of outright sales and purchases or of repurchase agreements (RPs). RPs are employed as a major instrument for the routine adjustment of market liquidity. Since March 2008, RP transactions have been offered each week on a regular schedule and most of them carry seven-day maturities.
Lending and Deposit Facilities
The Bank of Korea operates lending and deposit facilities to control the availability of banking institutions' funds. The Bank's lending and deposit facilities consist of Aggregate Credit Ceiling Loans, Liquidity Adjustment Loans and Deposits, Intra-day Overdrafts and Special Loans.
The Aggregate Credit Ceiling Loans System was introduced in 1994, replacing the former policy financing arrangements. Under the system, the Monetary Policy Committee sets the aggregate credit ceiling for the Bank's extension of loans to the whole banking sector every three months. Individual loan quotas are then allocated to each bank according to such criteria as performance in the extension of Trade Financing, Corporate Procurement Loans and Electronically-processed Secured Receivables Loans, etc.
The reserve depository institutions can access Liquidity Adjustment Loans and Deposits, a kind of standing facilities, without restriction on their use in either frequency or scale. These facilities serve the function of limiting the volatility of the call rate within a certain range. The loan and deposit interest rates are set at 100bp (50bp on the final day of the reserve maintenance period) above and below the Bank of Korea Base Rate.
Intraday Overdrafts are provided to banks for temporary shortages of settlement funds in the course of a single day. And, as the lender of last resort, the Bank can extend Special Loans in order to ensure financial market stability.
Reserve Requirements
The Bank of Korea may impose reserve requirements on the deposit liabilities of banking institutions. This system was originally introduced for the protection of depositors but nowadays it is used to control banks' available funds by adjusting reserve requirement ratios.
Required reserves should be held in the form of deposits with the Bank of Korea, but they may in part also be held by the banks in the form of vault cash to a level determined by the Monetary Policy Committee. Reserves against deposit liabilities held by banks in the Bank of Korea may be used for the settlement of interbank balances. Should the reserves of banking institutions fall short of the legal reserve requirements, which are computed semi-monthly, the institutions concerned must pay the Bank a penalty of one percent of the amount of the average deficiency during that period.
Current Trends
An internal review by the Bank of Korea (BOK), submitted ahead of a scheduled Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting notes that a six percent benchmark interest rate (up from current 3.25 percent) will lower South Korea’s consumer inflation to the three percent range. When using the Taylor rule, which takes into account both growth prospects and inflation pressures, the annual rate should be set at 3.9 percent, the central bank added.
The central bank is conducting a thorough analysis on the effectiveness of monetary policies following recent interest rate decisions. A simulation showed that to maintain three percent inflation, the yearly average since 1999, the key rate should be raised every month by 25 bp (base point, where one bp is the equivalent of 0.01 percentage points) for the next eleven months this year.
Since there is a time difference of six months to a year for the key rate decisions to have a real effect on the economy, the benchmark rate will need to be raised immediately or else it will be ineffective against this year’s inflation, said the internal review.
The MPC had made five interest rate hikes from July 2010 to June last year, during which on-year consumer inflation recorded a curved growth from 2.5 percent to 4.2 percent. When the central bank kept the rate frozen from July to December, inflation figures stayed high at a monthly average of 4.2 percent.
Despite criticisms regarding its disappointing price stabilization efforts, the BOK is poised to keep the key rate low due to its concerns over external sources of uncertainties.
“Previous crises occurred in 10 year cycles, but the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis exploded only three years after the global financial crisis,” BOK Governor Kim Choong-soo stressed the severity of current economic conditions in a recent New Year’s address.
The following are excerpts from the central bank’s policy statement for this year:
Inflation Target and Revision of the Bank of Korea Act The inflation target for the 2010-12 period is set at the level of 3.0 ±1%, in terms of the year-on-year rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index. By striving to steer inflation close to the mid-point of this target, the Bank of Korea (“the Bank”) shall conduct its monetary policy so as to firmly anchor the basis for price stability over a medium-term horizon. During 2012, the Bank will determine the inflation target for 2013 and after, in consultation with the government.
Inflation Target
The revised Bank of Korea Act, which strengthens the Bank’s responsibility for financial stability, came into effect from December 17th, 2011. The revised Act stipulates in its purpose article that the Bank shall pay attention to financial stability in carrying out its monetary policy. In relation to financial stability, the Act expands the range of financial institutions required to submit materials requested by the Bank, eases the requirements for the Bank’s emergency liquidity support, expands the range of liabilities subject to reserve requirements, classifies the Financial Stability Report as a statutory report, and so forth.
Global Economy
Global economic growth is forecast to slow during 2012, affected among other factors by the euro area sovereign debt crisis, while the degree of uncertainty surrounding the growth path will also be high. During 2012 the paces of recovery in advanced economies are expected to weaken, above all in the euro area, and the impacts of this to spill over into emerging market countries.
Leading international forecasting agencies including the OECD have consequently released projections for somewhat lower world economic growth than in 2011. High uncertainty will exist in the world economy going forward, moreover, related for example to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and fiscal and monetary policy directions in major countries.
Domestic Real Economy
After showing signs of a mild slowdown for some time, domestic economic growth is forecast to recover from the second half of the year, but downside risks will be substantial due mostly to the possibility of external conditions deteriorating and to uncertainties concerning North Korea.
Inflation is forecast to decelerate, but at a moderate pace. For the domestic economy, growth is anticipated to show signs of a mild slowdown during the first half of 2012, owing chiefly to a fall in the world economic growth rate, and to then recover to the level of its long-term trend from the latter half as external uncertainties ease. The downside risks to growth will be large, however, due for example to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and to the possibilities of the economic slumps in major countries and unrest in the international financial markets continuing. Should the geopolitical risks surrounding North Korea come to the fore, there would potentially also be a possibility of the domestic financial markets becoming uneasy and economic activity including consumption and investment contracting severely. The uptrend in consumer prices will slow, but the pace of decline in inflation is expected to be modest due chiefly to the presence of high inflation expectations.
Domestic Financial and Foreign Exchange Markets
The recurrent in- and outflows of foreign funds are predicted to continue, as is the consequent high volatility of financial market price variables. With the reduction in lending growth by financial institutions, due for instance to their strengthening of risk management, it is feared that some firms with low credit ratings will face deteriorating fund-raising conditions.
It is possible that the household debt problem will continue to act as a potential factor causing financial sector vulnerability, and that the soundness of financial institutions will erode due for example to slowing of the economy. The in- and outflows of foreign funds and financial market price variables will continue to show high volatility, in line with evolution of the sovereign debt problems in Europe and the state of affairs in North Korea.
The growth in financial institution lending during 2012 is forecast to be somewhat lower than in 2011, owing mostly to government efforts to rein in household loans and to the strengthening of risk management by financial institutions.
Although the trend of increase in household debt will subside, given their income conditions it is hard to expect any marked improvement in households' debt servicing capacities. The soundness of financial institutions' loan assets could decline, with growing debt servicing strains felt particularly by the most vulnerable and by marginal firms—owing chiefly to the impact of a slowing economy.
Public Finances
The rate of increase in the government budget is set at the same level as this year’s, but the fiscal deficit is forecast to narrow somewhat. The draft consolidated government budget for 2012 (total expenditure basis, including public funds) represents a 5.5% increase over that in 2011, as was the case this year. The deficit on the adjusted fiscal balance (consolidated budget balance excluding social security funds) will narrow from 2.0% of GDP in FY 2011 to 1.0% in FY 2012.
Policy Direction for 2012
In conducting monetary policy, the central bank noted that it will place emphasis on firmly anchoring the basis for price stability, while taking into consideration financial and economic conditions and risk factors at home and abroad. Efforts will at the same time be devoted to employing the monetary policy toolkit effectively. In keeping with the purport of the revised Bank of Korea Act, the Bank will step up its endeavors to secure financial stability, by pre-emptively countering factors making for financial market instability and those posing systemic risk to the financial sector.
Operation of the Base Rate
The Bank will operate the Base Rate in such a way as to firmly anchor the basis for price stability amid continuing sound growth of the economy, while closely monitoring changes in financial and economic conditions and risk factors at home and abroad. It will strive to stabilize consumer price inflation at the midpoint of the inflation target over a medium term horizon, closely scrutinizing the movements of core prices and of inflation expectations to ensure that prolonged inflationary pressures do not become entrenched. Careful watch will also be kept against the possibility of economic imbalances arising
from retention of an accommodative monetary stance for an extended period of time. And given the high degree of uncertainty surrounding the domestic and international economies, the Bank will also keep a close eye on the evolution and knock-on effects of risk factors such as the situation in North Korea and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy
The Bank will work to ensure that amended or newly introduced systems, by way for instance of the revised Bank of Korea Act, will take root soon and be effectively utilized. Under the changed method of managing required reserves, to a monthly basis, a broad range of instruments for open market operations will be employed so that reserve management is accomplished in a stable manner.
The possibility of deploying the reserve requirement system as a tool for monetary policy and financial stability, and proposals for its operation will be explored. By ensuring early settlement in place of the newly introduced securities lending facility, the Bank will enhance the efficiency of its liquidity adjustment operations and if necessary employ the facility as a policy instrument for financial stability. It will also strive to promote smooth operation of the system for supplying intraday liquidity to financial investment companies, etc., introduced to reduce risk in the securities settlement system. The Bank will endeavor to improve the transparency and predictability of its monetary policy. The descriptive content of its statement on the ‘Monetary Policy Decision’ will be continually improved. The format of the Monetary Policy Report will be re-organized and its analysis of financial and economic conditions strengthened. The communication of policies to financial market participants and the general public will also be further enhanced.
The Bank will work to promote smooth operation of the transmission channels of monetary policy. The function of the yield on 91-day Monetary Stabilization Bonds (MSBs) as short-term market interest rate will be enhanced, by for example improving the MSB issuance system. Studies on the influence exercised by structural supply and demand conditions in the bond market on the monetary policy transmission channels will be intensified, and possible countermeasures explored.
Promoting Financial Market Stability
The Bank will prepare actively against the possibility of financial market unrest, arising for example from heightened uncertainty over North Korea or escalation of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.
An emergency monitoring system will be brought into operation—to enable constant close monitoring of foreign capital in- and outflows, Korean won and foreign currency liquidity conditions in the domestic financial markets, the movements of price variables and so forth. While deepening its information exchange and cooperation with the government and related institutions, the Bank will also actively consider market stabilization measures such as the flexible supply of liquidity and flexible conduct of macro-prudential policies related to the foreign exchange sector, as and when needed. Its comprehensive stage-by-stage contingency plans will be constantly modified and checked, to guard against any deterioration in the financial situation due for example to an abrupt surge in outflows of foreign funds or elevated geopolitical risk.
The Bank will also study proposals to facilitate efficient conduct of its strengthened lender of last resort function provided for in the revised Bank of Korea Act.
Monitoring Systemic Risk in the Financial Sector, and Strengthening the Bank’s Response Capacity
The Bank will strengthen its capacity to grasp and analyze vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the financial sector. Tools such as early warning indicators related to financial stability and models and analytical methods for estimating and assessing systemic risks are being developed. The now legally-mandated Financial Stability Report will be improved in terms of its structure and method of compilation, so that it may fully satisfy its function of checking and appraising macro-prudential soundness. In carrying out joint examinations with the Financial Supervisory Service, the Bank will strengthen its surveillance of banks having significant market influence and of vulnerable sectors.
Unremitting efforts will be directed toward resolving potential factors causing financial market unrest such as the household debt problem. Measures will be continually pursued, in consultation with the government and related institutions, to achieve a soft landing of household debt. Plans to support recapitalization of the Korea Housing Finance Corporation will be reviewed. The Bank will endeavor to enhance international cooperation for financial stability. It will seek to expand the global financial safety net, by way for instance of financial cooperation with the central banks of major countries and international agencies. As chair of the FSB Regional Consultative Group for Asia, it will strengthen the framework for information sharing and cooperation among member countries.
Efficiently Supporting SMEs and Other Vulnerable Sectors
The Bank will work to induce the friction-free supply of financial institution funds to vulnerable sectors, for example by improving its Aggregate Credit Ceiling Loan System. To expand the provision of bank loans to smallscale SMEs facing difficulties in their access to finance, it intends to adjust the criteria for Aggregate Credit Ceiling Loan eligibility (e.g. so that firms with high credit ratings are ineligible). In this regard, the special support ceiling of 1 trillion won linked to the 'SME Fast Track Program', in operation since its introduction following the global financial crisis, will be withdrawn step-bystep, and the funds thus collected utilized for instance to support vulnerable sectors. The Bank will also redouble its policy efforts to expand SME lending by financial institutions and to curb their lending to households.
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