Increased life expectancy helps economic growth in long term

Korea's rapidly increased life expectancy has helped boost the country's economic growth by 0.4 percentage point over the past 15 years as people tend to save more, eventually leading to an increase in spending and capital stocks, a report showed Thursday.Korea's life expectancy reached 82.4 years as of 2014, an annual rise of 0.5 year on average since 2000, when the figure was 75.5, according to the report by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), a state-run think tank.Meanwhile, the average p

May 12, 2016

Household loan growth accelerates in April

Household loans extended by local banks continued to rise at a fast clip in April, due mostly to an increase in collective loans for housing projects, central bank data showed Thursday.Outstanding household loans from local lenders came to 654.3 trillion won ($561.25 billion) as of end-April, up 5.3 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).The on-month increase marked an acceleration from a 4.9 trillion-won gain in the previous month."Home-backed hous

May 12, 2016

Korea’s export prices down 3.4 percent in April

South Korea’s export prices dropped from a month earlier in April, primarily due to the strengthening Korean won against the U.S. dollar, central bank data showed Thursday.The export price index reached 78.19 last month, down 3.4 percent from a revised 80.97 the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. Goods wait to be shipped at Busan Port. (Yonhap)From a year earlier, the April reading marks a 5.7 percent decline. April marks the fourth consecutive month in which p

May 12, 2016

Deeper ties with Iran to boost exports, create jobs in Korea

Deeper economic ties with Iran can bring Korea trade benefits of $84.5 billion and create 680,000 new jobs in the coming decade, according to a Korean think tank. In a report released Wednesday, the Korea Economic Research Institute looked into seven industrial segments that it saw would benefit most from increased business engagement with Iran, a large and diversified market in the Middle East that is just opening up following the lifting earlier this year of decades-long international economic

May 11, 2016

Lotte to buy Hyundai Logistics to bolster delivery business

South Korea’s conglomerate Lotte Group plans to buy a controlling stake in Hyundai Logistics, as it seeks to strengthen its delivery service to compete with other rival retailers.By the end of next week, eight affiliate companies of Lotte are set to hold board of directors meetings to get approval to buy an 88.8 percent stake in Hyundai Logistics in separate deals with an estimated value about 410 billion won ($351 million), according to Lotte officials. They expect to complete transactions with

May 11, 2016

Korea's jobless rate falls to 3.9% in April

South Korea's jobless rate fell in April as more people were hired in the accommodation and retail sectors, but the unemployment rate for young people still remained high, a government report showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate sank to 3.9 percent in April, from 4.3 percent in March. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate also dropped to 3.7 percent from 3.8 percent over the cited period, according to the report by Statistics Korea. Job fair in Seoul (Yonhap)But job creation decreased from the

May 11, 2016

Korean economic growth hit by sluggish global investment

Sluggish global investment stemming from the 2008 global financial crisis has dragged down Korea's economic growth by 0.21 percentage point on an annual basis, a report said Tuesday.Global investment was hit hard by the global financial crisis as its portion against the world's gross demand fell by 1.7 percentage points in 2014 from 2007, according to the report by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), a state-run think tank.Meanwhile, those of private consumption and fiscal spending each gaine

May 10, 2016

Improving domestic demand props up economy, offsets faltering exports

Korea's domestic demand seems to support the entire economy despite faltering exports stemming from weakening global demand, a government report showed Tuesday."Domestic demand, particularly private consumption, has been getting better recently, although exports have been on the decline," the finance ministry said in its monthly economy assessment report.The report is based on the latest economic indicators on such key factors as output, exports, consumption and corporate investment that could p

May 10, 2016

FKI presses for seven regulatory reforms to create jobs, added value

Reforming key regulations particular to Korea will create more than 63 trillion won ($53.89 billion) in added value and 923,000 jobs, a leading business organization argued in a report Tuesday.The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), membered by conglomerates, specified seven types of regulations that govern business and investment activities, ranging from factory construction in or near Seoul and private investment in hospitals to businesses that can only be engaged in by smaller companies. S

May 10, 2016

Kim’s Club sale faces delay on price differences

Talks between the E-Land Group and U.S. private equity giant KKR for the sale of local retail chain Kim’s Club are dragging on due to differences over price, local reports said Monday. E-Land is trying to sell its 37-branch hypermarket franchise to KKR for about 700 billion won, but the buyout firm is refusing to pay more than half of that price, Yonhap News reported, citing unnamed sources. Kim’s Club’s revenue last year was 660 billion won.“Negotiations are going smoothly,” E-Land said, in res

May 9, 2016

Calls rising for changes to tax system

In a meeting with senior journalists last month, President Park Geun-hye reiterated her objection to increasing taxes, saying she would lose face if she mentioned it. She may well feel so, given her insistence on financing expanded welfare programs without raising taxes.But a growing number of fiscal experts consider a tax increase inevitable since it is difficult to cover welfare costs by restructuring government spending as the Park administration has tried to do. Amid a prolonged economic dow

May 9, 2016

Sluggish exports weigh heavily on Korean economy

The Korean economy still remains in a sluggish mode due to worse-than-expected exports offsetting some positive signs in domestic consumption and construction investment, a state-run think tank said Monday."Although certain indicators exhibited slight improvements, Korea's overall growth remains subdued," the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in its monthly evaluation of the country's economic conditions."Weakening manufacturing and facilities investment, largely brought on by falling expor

May 9, 2016

Korean trade minister holds talks with Kuwait oil minister

Korea's top trade official met his Kuwaiti counterpart Monday to discuss ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in the new growth industry and energy sector, the trade ministry said.Trade and Energy Minister Joo Hyung-hwan and Kuwait's acting Oil Minister Anas Khalid Al Saleh had their first talks in Seoul on the sidelines of Prime Minister Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah's four-day trip here. Trade and Energy Minister Joo Hyung-hwan (Yonhap)Al Saleh is also serving as deputy prime minister, minister of f

May 9, 2016

Korea to hold regular high-level talks with China's Jiangsu Province

Korea and China's Jiangsu Province, one of the most popular Chinese destinations for Korean investors, agreed to set up a regular high-level consultative channel to discuss ways to enhance bilateral economic and commerce cooperation, the trade ministry here said Monday.Korean Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan and Jiangsu Province Gov. Shi Taifeng signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on trade cooperation in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Jiangsu Province, locate

May 9, 2016

Geoje may lose 22,000 jobs in shipbuilding this year: report

 A continued recession in the shipbuilding industry could lead to the loss of as many as 22,000 jobs this year on Geoje Island in the southern part of Korea where two large shipbuilders are located, warned a report by Geoje City on Friday.It is the first time that a local government has released a report forecasting a massive layoff in the shipbuilding sector, which is reeling from a drought of orders for new shipbuilding and offshore plants.If the two shipbuilders Samsung Heavy Industries and D

May 8, 2016

Surge in shipbuilders' debts attributed to 'heavy tail' deals

Debts owed by South Korea's three major shipbuilders more than doubled over a period of five years ending in 2015 due to disadvantageous contract terms, according to their business reports Sunday.The combined borrowings by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co., and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. jumped to 23.9 trillion won ($20.68 billion) at the end of 2015 from 10 trillion won at end-2010, the data showed.Industry analysts said a sharp increase in the so-call

May 8, 2016

Tourist arrivals from Japan increase for 2nd consecutive month

Tourist arrivals here from Japan rose for the second consecutive month in March, industry data showed Sunday.According to the data released by the Korea Tourism Organization, a total of 224,328 Japanese tourists visited South Korea in March, marking a rise of 55.3 percent over the previous month and a year-on-year increase of 2.5 percent from 218,932 in the same month of 2015.In February, 144,493 Japanese came to visit South Korea, rising 1.3 percent from 142,587 recorded a year earlier.Before F

May 8, 2016

Korea to sell 3 tln won of Treasury bills in May

South Korea plans to sell 3 trillion won ($2.6 billion) worth of Treasury bills this month to help stabilize the money market and cover government expenses, the finance ministry said Wednesday.The bills will have a maturity of 63 days and will be sold in three separate auctions throughout the month, it added.Treasury bills are designed to raise money to cover short-term financial shortfalls, and thus are generally sold with a maturity of less than a year.Following the planned sales of additional

May 4, 2016

Survey says companies feeling bigger pinch from taxes

A majority of companies estimate increased corporate taxes this year from last year and expect to pay more when new tax codes become effective in 2017, a survey said Wednesday.Responses drawn by the Federation of Korean Industries, in its survey of 200 company officials in charge of tax filings, said 61.5 percent reported higher corporate taxes this year than last. Another 67 percent said they see taxes rising next year under new codes that reduced allowed write-offs for carryover business losse

May 4, 2016

Top officials of S. Korea, Japan, China vow joint efforts to ensure financial stability

Top financial officials and central bank governors from South Korea, Japan and China agreed Tuesday to make joint efforts in battling economic and financial uncertainties at both the national and regional levels.   The agreement came at a three-way meeting of the countries' finance ministers and central bank governors held in Frankfurt, Germany, where the top financial and monetary policymakers were attending the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank. Korean Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho (le

May 3, 2016