SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's central bank has supplied over 6 trillion won (5.1 billion U.S. dollars) worth of fresh banknotes ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Thursday.
About 6.09 trillion won (5.2 billion U.S. dollars) worth of new bills were issued to banks and other financial institutions from Jan. 10-23. It was up 1.0 percent from the banknote issuance made before the holiday season a year earlier.
The new banknote issuance came ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday that will continue from Jan. 24 to Jan. 27.
During the holiday, demand tended to increase for new banknotes because of a South Korean tradition of the elders providing cash gifts for younger ones after receiving a deep bow as the New Year greeting.
Some of local businesses still tended to offer the New Year bonus of fresh banknotes to employees.
