SEOUL, Nov 5 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Wednesday that local banks were enjoying an improving rollover on their maturing short-term foreign debt after its central bank agreed last week to a $30 billion currency swap line with the U.S. Fed.
Deputy Finance Minister Noh Dae-lae also said during a radio programme that bringing down market interest rates was important for the country to avert corporate failures in the face of a deepening fallout from the global financial crisis.
But he did not say whether local financial authorities plan to introduce additional measures to help lower the borrowing cost in addition to the central bank's reduction of the policy interest rate by a total of 1 percentage point in October.
The yield on the 91-day commercial paper, a short-term funding tool for corporates, has risen more than half a percentage point to 8-year highs over the past four weeks even as the central bank cut the policy rate by 1 percentage point.
The Bank of Korea next reviews the rate on Friday.

(Reporting by Yoo Choonsik; Editing by Kim Coghill) Keywords: FINANCIAL/KOREA BANKS (choonsik.yoo@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5580; Reuters Messaging: choonsik.yoo.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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