Korea's current account surplus with China tumbles 19.5% in 2015

South Korea's current account surplus with China sank nearly 20 percent last year due mainly to a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, central bank data showed Friday.The country's current account surplus with China, its largest trade partner, reached $45.14 billion in 2015, down 19.5 percent from the previous year's $56.06 billion, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea.The figure fell for two straight years after peaking at $56.69 billion in 2013.Last year, Asia's fourt

June 17, 2016

Korea turns to Arctic for new biz opportunities

Government officials and scholars from South Korea and Russia gathered in the northern Russian city of Murmansk Thursday to discuss the prospects of cooperation in the Arctic Ocean.Kim Chan-woo, South Korea's ambassador for Arctic Affairs, opened the first seminar between the two countries on Arctic issues. (AP-Yonhap)"The Arctic is one of the last frontiers left to mankind, and it will be the Arctic sea routes which will assume a pivotal role in utilizing these opportunities," he said in his op

June 17, 2016

Goldman Sachs acquires Carver Korea

[THE INVESTOR] Goldman Sachs has bought a majority stake in local cosmetics company Carver Korea in a deal worth some 400 billion won (US$ 341.7 million), an industry source said Friday. A consortium, formed by Goldman Sachs and private equity fund Bain Capital, has struck a deal to acquire more than 50 percent stake in Carver Korea. Before the deal, 60.17 percent shares were owned by the cosmetic maker’s chief executive Lee Sang-rok. Carver Korea, which is well-known here for its beauty product

June 17, 2016

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street gains

South Korean shares opened higher Friday, tracking overnight gains in Wall Street after Britain suspended a campaign on the European Union membership following a lawmaker's death. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 16.38 points, or 0.84 percent, to 1,968.37 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most large caps traded bullish. Market kingpin Samsung Electronics gained 0.99 percent, and top automaker Hyundai Motor increased 1.12 percent. Korea Electric Power Corp., the state-ru

June 17, 2016

GE plans to sell shares in Hyundai Card to several PEFs

[THE INVESTOR] GE Capital, financial services unit of the US conglomerate General Electric, is in final-stage talks to sell its stake in Korea’s Hyundai Card and Hyundai Capital, to unwind a decade-old joint venture relationship that it formed with Hyundai Motor. As a part of GE’s move to shift away from consumer finance globally, GE Capital plans to sell its 43 percent stake worth 760 billion won (US$ 650 million) in the credit card business to several private equity funds by splitting the stak

June 17, 2016

Anchor Equity Partners to sell Kyungnam Energy

[THE INVESTOR] Anchor Equity Partners , a Seoul-based private equity fund, plans to sell its stake in Kyungnam Energy after the gas provider delisted from the benchmark KOSPI last month, according to a source at an investment bank on June 16.Anchor Equity Partners, the second-largest shareholder of Kyungnam Energy, recently sent out a request for proposals to local and foreign investment banks and is currently seeking advisors for the deal. The disposal plan comes two years after the PEF acquire

June 16, 2016

Moody's says tax revenue growth positive for Korea's ratings

An increase in South Korea's tax revenues in the first four months of this year will have a positive effect on its credit ratings as it can support the government's costly stimulus packages, Moody's Investors Service said Thursday.In December, Moody's upgraded Korea's credit ratings to Aa2 from Aa3 and changed the outlook to stable from positive, citing its stronger economic and fiscal fundamentals compared to China and euro-zone countries. "The increased tax revenue reflects an increase in corp

June 16, 2016

[News Analysis] Uncertainty persists over Fed’s rate move

Weak employment and low inflation led the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee to freeze its federal fund rate at 0.25 to 0.50 percent, extending the possibility and uncertainty over a rate rise, analysts say.The U.S. FOMC said that it will maintain its benchmark interest rate, but remains “accommodative,” indicating that it will adjust its monetary policy in accordance with conditions in the labor market and consumer prices. Korean stocks fell to nearly a one-month low on Thursday as the U.S. Fed

June 16, 2016

[EXCLUSIVE] Lotte drops DFA bid amid widening probe

[THE INVESTOR] Lotte Group has given up its plans to acquire Duty Free Americas Inc., the largest duty-free operator in the U.S., amid the widening probe that had earlier forced the South Korean retail giant to withdraw plans to list its hotel unit, The Korea Herald found Thursday.“The group has effectively given up on the potential acquisition of a U.S. duty-free operator worth 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion), now that the initial public offering of its hotel unit has been indefinitely delayed

June 16, 2016

Korea says its FTA with Colombia to enter into force next month

South Korea said Wednesday that its free trade agreement with Colombia will take effect next month, a move expected to further boost bilateral trade.Colombia informed South Korea earlier in the day that it has completed the ratification process of the deal clinched in 2013, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, adding that the deal is set to go into effect on July 15.Trade volume between the two countries stood at $2.1 billion in 2014, up 36 percent from a year earlier.The sides are s

June 16, 2016

[Graphic News] Korea‘s net worth surpasses W12 quadrillion

Korea’s total net worth surpassed 12 quadrillion won ($10 trillion) for the first time last year. According to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea, the country’s wealth, calculated as total assets minus total liabilities, came in at 12,359.5 trillion won ($10.54 trillion) at the end of 2015, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier. That is 7.9 times the size of Korea’s gross domestic product in 2015. Nearly 87 percent of that wealth was in land and buildings. The net worth of Korean households an

June 15, 2016

[Monitor] Youth unemployment at new record high

Korea’s youth unemployment came in at 9.7 percent last month, the highest for the month of May since comparable data began to be collected in 1999. The jobless rate for the 15-29 age group has been on a record-breaking streak since February, as economic gloom continues in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. From a month earlier, the youth jobless rate marked a decrease of 0.4 percentage point. Overall unemployment stood at 3.7 percent in May, compared to 3.9 percent tallied in April, or 3.8 percent r

June 15, 2016

Korea concerned about fallout from U.S.-China trade discord

Concerns are mounting here over the impact on Korea’s manufacturing exporters of the intensifying trade dispute between the U.S. and China.Seoul has already been under growing pressure from Washington to make more earnest and persistent effort toward reducing the widening trade imbalance between the two sides.Experts here worry that the discord between the world’s largest and second biggest economies will amplify the U.S.’ trade pressure on Korea, which remains heavily reliant on exports for gro

June 15, 2016

Korea's 2014 economic output grows on domestic production: report

South Korea's economic output expanded from a year earlier in 2014, though output by the manufacturing sector continued to dwindle with the portion of trade in total supply also shrinking, a central bank report showed Wednesday.The country's total supply, which equals total consumption, came to 4,237.8 trillion won ($3,598.1 billion) in 2014, up 0.7 percent from the previous year, according to the report from the Bank of Korea.The 2014 reading marked a turnaround from a 0.2 percent on-year drop

June 15, 2016

Korea extends trade surplus streak to 52 months

South Korea posted its 52nd consecutive trade surplus in May as a sharp drop in imports outpaced a fall in exports, customs data showed Wednesday.The country's trade surplus came to US$6.98 billion last month, down from $8.8 billion in the previous month, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.The May figure marked an 11-percent on-year rise from $6.29 billion tallied in the same month a year earlier, extending its streak to 52 months.But the amount of trade surplus fell for three

June 15, 2016

Seoul fails to rejoin MSCI's developed-market review list

South Korea failed to put its stock market back on MSCI Inc.'s review list of developed market index candidates due to a lack of financial reforms required by the widely followed global index provider, the financial regulator said Wednesday. MSCI, or Morgan Stanley Capital International, cited the absence of an around-the-clock market to exchange Korean won with other currencies and delays in Seoul's packages of financial reforms that will take effect after 2017, as some of the main reasons, the

June 15, 2016

Record low interest rates offer negative returns on deposits

Interest rates paid by local lenders are nearing zero percent after the country's central bank slashed its policy rate to a fresh record low, which translates into negative returns on bank deposits when price inflation is adjusted, market observers said Wednesday.According to the observers, Citibank Korea has slashed the annual interest rate on its savings accounts for companies to 0.01 percent from 0.1 percent.A 0.01 percent interest rate yields 1,000 won ($0.85) per year in interest on every 1

June 15, 2016

Korea's jobless rate slips to 3.7% in May

South Korea's jobless rate fell slightly in May on a rise in the number of employees in the health and accommodation sectors, with the unemployment rate for young people still remaining high, a government report showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 3.7 percent last month, compared with 3.9 percent tallied in April, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The seasonally adjusted jobless rate stayed at 3.7 percent in May.Job creation edged u

June 15, 2016

Korea's export prices drop 4% in May

South Korea's export prices continued to drop from a month earlier in May, central bank data showed Wednesday, partly contributing to a prolonged slump in the country's exports.In local currency terms, export prices fell 4 percent on-year last month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.May marks the fifth consecutive month there was an on-year drop following a revised 5.2 percent decline in the previous month.From a month earlier, export prices gained 2.4 percent.The on-month in

June 15, 2016

Korean ad market 6th largest in OECD : report

South Korea's advertising expenditure for 2015 was the sixth largest among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a report showed Tuesday.Advertising expenses in the country reached $11.8 billion last year to trail behind the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, and France, according to the report by the Korea Advertisers Association.The report said the local advertising market expanded by 5.4 percent and 6.2 percent on-year in 2014 and 2015, respective

June 14, 2016