The government plans to inject about 2 trillion won (US$1.51 billion) into the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) to help boost its capital soundness required to finance businesses, officials said Sunday.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Financial Services Commission are in the middle of finalizing the process for the provision of the funds to the KDB by the end of this month, officials familiar with the matter said.

The provision will be made by transferring government-owned stocks in some public companies to the KDB, according to the officials.

“We have many financing plans that will be made through the KDB,” an official said. “The investment is to enhance capital capacity.”

The injection of the funds will improve the KDB’s financial health, officials said.

The KDB’s capital adequacy ratio, known as the BIS ratio, stood at 13.66 percent at the end of the third quarter of last year. Financial authorities advise banks to keep their BIS ratio above 13 percent for financial stability.

Sou
rce: Yonhap News Agency