S. Korea to invest W205b to promote eco-friendly ships

South Korea said Tuesday it will allocate 205 billion won ($186.3 million) to adopt eco-friendly technologies for the local maritime industry in line with the country's green energy drive. Under the project, the country will seek to build a total of 39 eco-friendly ships this year, including 23 for the public sector, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The latest move came in line with the government's vision to operate around 530 eco-friendly ships by 2030. To promote the use

Jan. 12, 2021

S. Korea's tax revenue down W2.1tr in November

South Korea's tax revenue declined 2.1 trillion won ($1.9 billion) in November 2020 due largely to a fall in value-added and transportation tax earnings, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The country collected 14 trillion won in taxes in November, compared with 16.2 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The fall in tax revenue was mainly attributable to a decline in value-added and transportation tax earnings, as the government has extended the dead

Jan. 12, 2021

Sales of eco-friendly cars jump 54% in 2020

South Korea's environment-friendly vehicle sales jumped 54 percent to exceed 200,000 units in 2020 from a year earlier on subsidies and an improvement of charging infrastructure, industry data showed Tuesday. Carmakers sold a total of 213,264 eco-friendly models last year, up from 138,957 units the previous year, according to data from companies and the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA). It was the first time for automakers to report annual sales of more than 200,

Jan. 12, 2021

S. Korea's service payments dip for 11th month in Nov. amid pandemic

South Korea's payments for foreign service imports fell for the 11th consecutive month in November last year amid pandemic-induced travel restrictions, central bank data showed Tuesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy paid $8.59 billion for imports of foreign services in November, down 18.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). South Korea's service payments have been declining on-year since January last year, when the country reported its first confirmed

Jan. 12, 2021

Finance minister calls for acceleration of measures to expand housing supply

South Korea's finance minister instructed his officials Monday to accelerate efforts to draw up measures to increase housing supply, saying that stabilizing housing prices is the most pressing issue. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki called for mobilizing all policy efforts to tame soaring home prices, after President Moon Jae-in apologized for the issue earlier in the day amid mounting public criticism over housing policy. "As the property market issue is the most pressing one in terms of peo

Jan. 11, 2021

Seoul will actively pursue CPTPP: finance minister

The South Korean government will actively consider joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, and improve systems to engage in the new global trading order evolving in the region, its fiscal chief said Monday. Stressing that megasized free trade pacts such as the Asia-Pacific agreement will become foundations for changes in the global economic order, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government will begin unofficial talks with member countri

Jan. 11, 2021

S. Korean bond sales soar 23% in 2020

Bond issuance in South Korea shot up more than 23 percent in 2020 due to a surge in government debt sales to tackle the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, data showed Monday. The value of bonds issued in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 844.7 trillion won ($774 billion) in 2020, up 23.2 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The spike was attributed to sharply increased sales of state and special-purpose bonds designed to h

Jan. 11, 2021

S. Korea's exports fall 15% in first 10 days of Jan.

South Korea's exports declined 15.4 percent on-year in the first 10 days of January, customs data showed Monday, amid the prolonged fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak. The country's outbound shipments stood at $11.2 billion in the Jan. 1-10 period, compared with $13.2 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports decreased 22.9 percent on-year to $11.8 billion in the 10-day period, resulting in a trade deficit of $636 million, the data showed. By

Jan. 11, 2021

State bonds worth W48tr to mature this year: govt. data

South Korean state bonds worth nearly 48 trillion won ($44 billion) are slated to mature in 2021, with the amount rising further in the next couple of years due to more fiscal spending to weather the coronavirus fallout, government data showed Monday. Treasurys worth 48.2 trillion won, including state debt and inflation-indexed bonds, are scheduled to come due this year, according to the data from the finance ministry. The value of maturing state bonds is forecast to soar to an all-time high o

Jan. 11, 2021

Brokerages downgrade Q4 earnings outlook for major listed firms

South Korean brokerage houses have slightly revised down their fourth-quarter earnings outlook for major listed companies amid the coronavirus pandemic, a market tracker said Monday. The combined operating income forecast for 164 major listed firms came to 32.7 trillion won ($29.9 billion) for the October-December period as of Friday, up 52.4 percent from a year earlier, according to FnGuide. Yet it represents a 2.6 percent decrease from their estimate of 33.6 trillion won made a month earlier

Jan. 11, 2021

S. Korea's power sales dip 2.4% in Jan.-Nov. on coronavirus impact

South Korea's electricity consumption fell more than 2 percent in the first 11 months of 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Monday. Power sales in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 464,243 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the January-November period, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from state utility Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco). Electricity sales are thus projected to decline for all of 2020 from a year earlier due to sluggish demand stemmin

Jan. 11, 2021

[News Focus] Korea strives to branch out into South America

SEJONG -- South Korea has pushed forward signing free trade agreements with major economies around the globe over the past two decades. After the nation’s first free trade agreement with Chile took effect in April 2004, 17 such deals -- with 56 partner countries engaging -- have been implemented. Among them were the pacts with the European Union (effective since July 2011) and the US (effective since March 2012). Four agreements (which include 16 partner countries) with Korea are poised

Jan. 10, 2021

S. Korea to kick-off 3rd round of emergency cash handouts Monday

South Korea plans to kick off a 4.1 trillion won ($3.7 billion) emergency cash handout program Monday to offer up to 3 million won to small business owners, freelancers and special contract laborers hit by the third wave of coronavirus here, the Finance Ministry said Sunday.　 Roughly 2.5 million small business owners and self-employed individuals, or almost 90 percent of the country’s total, are eligible for the cash subsidies. They will be notified via text messages that they have been c

Jan. 10, 2021

Economic recovery momentum slackens amid flare-up in COVID-19 cases: KDI

South Korea's economic recovery momentum is slowing down as the service sector has remained sluggish amid a resurgence in new coronavirus cases, a state-run think tank said Sunday. The country's manufacturing sector sustained a recovery due mainly to robust exports, but the service industry is suffering sluggishness due to a flare-up in COVID-19, according to a monthly economic assessment report by the Korea Development Institute (KDI). "Despite the recovery in the manufacturing industry,

Jan. 10, 2021

S. Korea to phase out industrial waste imports

South Korea plans to restrict or phase out its imports of 10 kinds of industrial waste to increase the recycling of domestic waste, the Ministry of Environment said Sunday. The ministry said the importation of half of the 10 waste items, including plastic waste, mixed waste paper and coal ash, will be banned between 2022 and 2023. According to the ministry's road map, imports of all kinds of industrial waste, excluding metal scraps and a few others, will be banned in principle by 2030, while t

Jan. 10, 2021

S. Korea to add 1.04 million new jobs in public sector

The South Korean government plans to create 1.04 million new jobs in the public sector in an effort to tackle the pandemic employment shock, according to the nation’s first vice minister of finance Friday.  “To offer job opportunities to low-income households and young job seekers hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis, (the government) aims to create 1.04 million state-backed jobs by the end of this year, which is up nearly 10 percent from the previous year’s job-creating pr

Jan. 8, 2021

Foreigners turn net sellers of S. Korean stocks in December last year

Foreign investors turned net sellers of South Korean equities in December last year, as they took profits from a recent stock rally, the central bank said Friday. Foreigners sold a net $2.36 billion worth of local stocks last month, compared with a net purchase of $5.07 billion in November last year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Offshore investors also became net sellers of Korean bonds worth $170 million last month, the BOK said. Meanwhile, volatility in South Korea's currency fell

Jan. 8, 2021

S. Korea to jack up support for electric, hydrogen cars

South Korea plans to increase budgetary support for the purchase of electric and hydrogen cars by around 30 percent this year in a bid to nurture the next-generation vehicle sector, the finance minister said Friday. The country has set the non-memory chip, bio-health and next-generation vehicle sectors as the "BIG 3" industries that it seeks to nurture for job creation and innovation-driven growth. As part of such efforts, the country will spend 1.4 trillion won ($1.3 billion) to sup

Jan. 8, 2021

S. Korea's current account surplus narrows in November

South Korea's current account surplus narrowed on month in November last year, mainly due to a decline in investment income, the central bank said Friday. The current account surplus reached $8.97 billion in November, narrowing from a surplus of $11.66 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. Since the country logged a deficit of $3.33 billion in April last year, the largest in almost a decade, on falte

Jan. 8, 2021

[News Focus] Korea ranks 26th of 32 OECD members in employment

SEJONG -- South Korea still fell short of major economies in the employment index as of the third quarter of last year, which was the latest available data. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Korea posted 65.7 percent in the employment rate for people aged between 15-64, deemed the working age population, in September 2020. While the OECD compared 32 members, Korea ranked 26th in the index. Of the total 37 members, the French-based organization had yet to

Jan. 7, 2021