New finance minister vows to make S. Korea No. 5 exporter

South Korea’s new finance minister said Friday that the country’s team of new economic ministers will do their best to lay the foundation for helping the country become the world’s fifth-biggest exporter in the near future.Yoo Il-ho, who took office Wednesday, chose to visit the port of Pyeongtaek, one of the biggest maritime gateways on the west coast, to show his determination in reviving exports.South Korea was the sixth-biggest exporter in the world last year with $440.1 billion in outbound

Jan. 15, 2016

Investors brace for losses from China-tied notes

The recent stock market rout in China has been roiling the global market, but Korean investors who bought China-tied investment products could be hit hardest by the recent turbulence, market watchers said Friday.The issuance of equity-linked securities designed to track the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's Hang Seng China Enterprises index came to 46.34 trillion won ($38.34 billion) at the end of last year, accounting for some 60 percent of all ELS products sold here in 2015, according to data by the

Jan. 15, 2016

Park calls for boosting domestic demand, investment

President Park Geun-hye called Thursday to boost domestic demand and investment to help revitalize South Korea's economy amid sluggish growth and exports.She also asked officials to front load fiscal spending and ensure that nationwide discount events, like Korean Black Friday, can be held on a regular basis to keep boosting consumption.Korea's version of Black Friday helped boost sales of major department store chains by 11.4 percent in November in the second consecutive month of an on-year ris

Jan. 14, 2016

Economic problems top concern for Korean adults

South Korean adults are most concerned about such economic problems as inadequate retirement funds, employment and income, a poll showed Thursday, reflecting the country's worsening economic conditions.Nearly 37 percent of those surveyed consider the prolonged economic downturn and a slowdown in growth as the most disconcerting social issues.According to the survey of 7,000 Korean adults taken by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the overall degree of uneasiness was 5.4 out of 1

Jan. 14, 2016

Gov't to energize economy by boosting consumption, exports

The government said Thursday that it will put its top economic policy priority on jump-starting the country's economy by focusing fiscal spending on a faster recovery of domestic demand and revitalizing sagging exports.In a joint report to President Park Geun-hye on the government's economic policy goals for this year, seven economy-related ministries led by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance emphasized a "balanced" recovery both in domestic demand and exports."We will put priority on expansio

Jan. 14, 2016

Korean exports expected to remain weak in Q1

South Korea's exports are expected to remain sluggish during the first quarter of this year due to slowing growth in major markets and falling price competitiveness, a poll showed Thursday.The country's leading export sentiment index came to 50 for the January-March period, up 1.4 from the previous quarter, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.A reading above 50 means optimists outnumber pessimists, while a reading below the mark means the opposite. The latest index is largel

Jan. 14, 2016

BOK freezes key rate at record low for 7th straight month

In a widely anticipated move, the country's central bank kept its key rate frozen at a record low 1.5 percent for January on Thursday, extending its wait-and-see mode for another month ahead of another U.S. rate hike in the near future.   The Bank of Korea (BOK) has stood pat on its policy rate since July after four rate cuts in less than a year to help bolster growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy.   Thursday's decision follows a U.S. rate hike in December, the first of its kind in nearly a d

Jan. 14, 2016

Park stresses parliament's role in tackling economic challenges

President Park Geun-hye's emphasis of the parliament's role in overcoming South Korea's economic challenges is widely seen as reflecting her sense of crisis over Asia's fourth-largest economy struggling with weak exports, sluggish domestic demand and mounting external uncertainties.In her New Year's address to the nation, Park said that with the rise of global economic uncertainty, Seoul's only option at this juncture is to push forward sweeping reforms in the labor, financial, public and educat

Jan. 13, 2016

Korean seniors' spending tumbles on lower income

Consumption by South Koreans falls sharply when they become senior citizens because of a tumble in their income, a report showed WednesdayConsumption expenditures by South Koreans aged 65 and older amounted to 63.37 percent of average household spending as of 2014, down from 68.97 percent in 2005, according to the report by the National Pension Research Institute.The figure was much lower than 81.57 percent in the United States and 86.89 percent in Japan. The sharp drop in South Korean seniors'

Jan. 13, 2016

Crude Falls Below $30 a Barrel for the First Time in 12 Years

Oil dropped below $30 a barrel in New York for the first time in 12 years on concern that turmoil in China’s markets will curb fuel demand.West Texas Intermediate crude tumbled to the lowest since December 2003. Concerns that China’s economic growth may slow has soured investors on the prospects for a quick recovery, turning hedge funds the least bullish in five years. A rapid appreciation of the U.S. dollar may send Brent oil to as low as $20 a barrel, Morgan Stanley said.Oil extended a 70 perc

Jan. 13, 2016

Household debt continues to rise in Dec.

Household loans extended by local banks continued to rise at a fast clip in December though the rate of growth slowed from the previous month following the recent U.S. rate hike, central bank data showed Wednesday.Outstanding household loans extended by local banks came to 639.1 trillion won as of end-December, up 6.9 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.The on-month gain marks a slight drop from a 7.5-trillion-won on-month increase in November.The rise

Jan. 13, 2016

South Koreans purchased less overseas in 2015

South Koreans purchased less overseas in 2015 South Koreans made fewer direct purchases from abroad in 2015, with the figure falling compared to a year ago for the first time since the country first began to record such purchases. The decline was mostly attributed to a strong dollar and private sector efforts to woo back domestic consumers. According to the Korea Customs Service on Wednesday, South Korea’s direct purchases of foreign goods reached $1.52 billion last year, down 1.4 percent from o

Jan. 13, 2016

Korean manufacturers pessimistic about 2016 biz

A majority of South Korean manufacturing companies expect their business conditions to remain sluggish in 2016 from a year earlier amid weak global demand and faltering exports, a poll showed Wednesday.According to the survey of 518 manufacturers conducted by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, the manufacturing sector business survey index stood at 93 for the whole of 2016, far lower than the median figure of 100.A BSI reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists.T

Jan. 13, 2016

Korea‘s jobless rate inches up to 3.2% in Dec.

South Korea's jobless rate edged up in December from a month earlier as fewer people were hired by agriculture and other sectors due to cold weather, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.2 percent last month, up from 3.1 percent in November.The December figure dropped 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier.The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for December was 3.4 percent, unchanged from the previous month.For the whole of

Jan. 13, 2016

Korea's import, export prices drop at fast rate in Dec.

South Korea import and export prices continued to drop at a fast clip in December largely due to a plunge in energy and raw material prices, central bank data showed Wednesday.Export prices, in terms of local currency, dropped 6 percent from a year earlier last month, slowing from an 8.6 percent on-year decline in the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The December tally marks a 0.3 percent rise from the previous month, but the on-month increase was largely attr

Jan. 13, 2016