State COVID-19 relief funds used mostly for dining out, grocery shopping: ministry

The state coronavirus relief funds have been spent mostly on dining out and grocery shopping, the interior ministry said Wednesday, based on an analysis of credit card data.    The Ministry of Interior and Safety analyzed credit and debit card transactions from May 11-31 from eight financial firms to find out about spending behavior with the relief money.    As of May 31, a total of 5.67 trillion won in relief money was spent, and restaurants were the biggest spending dest

June 10, 2020

S. Korea’s economy will face less contraction than peer economies: OECD

  Despite the unprecedented economic crisis triggered by COVID-19, the contraction of South Korea’s economy will remain limited due to its effective strategy to contain the spread, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Also, while recognizing the record-low performances anticipated for the second quarter, the Paris-based organization predicted that the global economy will enter a slow and gradual recovery by the latter half of this year. “Th

June 10, 2020

S. Korea suffers steepest job losses in 10 years amid pandemic

   The number of unemployed in South Korea in May hit the highest level in more than a decade as businesses continued to freeze jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday.  According to data released by Statistics Korea, the number of employed totaled at 26.93 million last month, shedding 392,000 jobs compared with a year earlier, which marked the third consecutive monthly loss.  This was the first occurrence since the country reported job losses for four s

June 10, 2020

Household debt grows, but rise in corporate loans slows in May

South Korea's household debt continued to grow at a steady pace in May, but the rise in corporate loans sharply slowed from a month earlier, possibly reflecting ample liquidity for local firms, central bank data showed Wednesday. Fresh bank loans extended to local households came to 5 trillion won ($4.17 billion) in the month, slightly up from 4.9 trillion won the month before, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The rise in home-backed loans slowed to 3.9 trillion won from 4.

June 10, 2020

Korea's money supply grows by record amount in April

South Korea's money supply grew by the largest amount ever in April on a sharp increase in funds held by local companies apparently seeking to prepare for the shock from the new coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2 came to 3,018.6 trillion won ($2.51 trillion) as of end-April, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marks a 1.1 percent, or 34 trillion won increase from a month before, which is the largest on-month gain sinc

June 10, 2020

Authorities closely monitoring property market

SEJONG -- South Korea's financial authorities are closely monitoring the property market as ample liquidity could fuel a rise in home prices, Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said Wednesday. South Korea has promised to spend some 270 trillion won ($225 billion) to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic, with the Bank of Korea (BOK) cutting its key rate to a historic low. "The government will closely monitor the market to prevent asset prices from excessively rising

June 10, 2020

S. Korea's jobless rate surges to 10-year high amid pandemic

SEJONG -- South Korea's jobless rate surged to a 10-year high in May as the coronavirus pandemic hammered job markets, data showed Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.5 percent in May, marking the highest level since January 2010, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The number of employed people fell by 392,000 to 26.93 million in May, marking the third consecutive monthly decline. It was the first time that the nation lost jobs for the third str

June 10, 2020

World Bank names S. Korea ‘COVID-19 safe spot’

The World Bank has added South Korea to the list of countries that are providing efficient emergency medical services to its employees, Seoul’s Finance Ministry said Tuesday. The multilateral agency’s decision is seen as its recognition of Korea’s successful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The World Bank has decided to name Korea as a medical evacuation destination to take care of the emergent medical needs of its employees located in the East Asia and Pacific reg

June 9, 2020

Vice finance minister urges National Assembly to swiftly approve 3rd extra budget

SEJONG -- Vice Finance Minister An Il-whan called Tuesday for the National Assembly to swiftly approve the third extra budget to help revive an economic recovery as the coronavirus pandemic resulted in contractions across industrial sectors. Last week, South Korea proposed its third extra budget worth 35.3 trillion won ($29 billion) meant to help key industries cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic and protect jobs. "The effectiveness of this extra budget depends on it

June 9, 2020

Top 100 firms' Q1 overseas sales fall 10% amid virus

South Korea's top 100 companies posted a 10 percent on-quarter decline in their overseas earnings in the January-March period due to the new coronavirus impact on industries, an industry association said Tuesday.  The 100 biggest companies in terms of sales reported their combined overseas sales fell to 170.42 trillion won in the first quarter from 190.17 trillion won in the fourth quarter, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said in a statement. Companies hit hard by the COVID-19

June 9, 2020

S. Korea to beef up exports of ready-to-eat fishery products amid pandemic

South Korea said Tuesday it plans to develop new ready-to-eat products utilizing local fishery goods to take advantage of the rising demand for processed food items as more people refrain from dining out amid the new coronavirus pandemic across the globe. Under the plan, the country will join forces with local businesses and develop at least nine different kinds of new processed fishery products that can be easily prepared at households by the end of this year, according to the Ministry of Oce

June 9, 2020

Tax revenue continues to decline in April

South Korea collected 46.8 trillion won ($38.8 billion) in taxes in April, down 3 trillion won from a year earlier, the finance ministry said Tuesday. Income tax revenue amounted to 6.6 trillion won in April, up 1 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Dues collected from companies reached 6.4 trillion won in the month, up 3.7 trillion won from a year earlier. Value-added tax revenue reached 14.5 trillion won in April, down 2.6 trillion won from

June 9, 2020

S. Korea's corporate bond sales jump 54% in May

Corporate bond issues in South Korea soared nearly 54 percent to recover to pre-coronavirus levels in May, with foreign bond holdings hitting a new high, data showed Monday. South Korean companies floated bonds of 11.4 trillion won ($9.47 billion) last month, up 54.1 percent from the previous month, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The amount is close to the corporate debt sales of 12.3 trillion won in February, a month before the World Health Organizatio

June 8, 2020

Listed firms' earnings outlooks swing to upturn

Earnings forecasts for South Korea's listed firms rebounded from a long downturn last week amid rising hopes for their possible exit from the coronavirus shock, a market tracker said Monday. Companies listed on the country's main stock market saw the average estimate of their earnings per share (EPS) for the next 12 months amount to 6,038 won ($4.99) on Thursday, up 2.5 percent from the prior week, according to FnGuide. The increase in EPS, or a company's profit divided by its outstanding com

June 8, 2020

S. Korea faces prolonged economic contraction: KDI

Despite some recovery on the back of the government’s expansionary fiscal moves, South Korea’s economy is continuing to contract, as the negative impact of COVID-19 spreads across all industries, a state-run think tank warned Sunday. The pessimistic analysis came as the country is exerting all policy efforts to boost the virus-hit economy, including a 35.3 trillion-won ($29.2 billion) supplementary budget bill submitted to the National Assembly on Thursday. “The Korean econo

June 7, 2020

[News Focus] Is it time to recalibrate the Korean won?

SEJONG -- In 2019 South Korea ranked 20th in gross domestic product per capita among the 37 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, outstripping Japan and Spain. In terms of GDP alone, over the past five years Korea has moved around on the list, occupying the eighth through the 11th positions. Further, it is one of the world’s six largest exporters. But Korea is one of only two OECD countries where the value of the currency against the US dollar posts four

June 7, 2020

Global economy seen to contract 4% this year: poll

Business lobby groups in 18 countries forecast the global economy to contract 4 percent this year due to the impact of the new coronavirus outbreak, a South Korean industry association said Sunday. The 4 percent negative growth outlook is worse than the International Monetary Fund's forecast of a 3 percent contraction for the year and better than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's 5.1 percent contraction, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said in a statement.&

June 7, 2020

S. Korea's exports of EVs, ships to EFTA gain on free trade deal

South Korean exports of electric vehicles and ships to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) gained momentum in 2019 on the back of a bilateral free trade agreement, Seoul's trade ministry said Friday. Seoul signed the pact with the four-nation economic block comprising Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein in July 2005 before implementing it a year later. It was South Korea's FTA with European nations. "The agreement has played a pump-priming role in expanding bilateral tra

June 5, 2020

S. Korea sees largest current account deficit in 9 years in April

South Korea in April saw its largest current account deficit in nearly a decade, with the COVID-19 pandemic dealing a blow to the nation’s trade, data from the central bank showed Thursday. The export-reliant economy suffered a current account deficit of $3.12 billion, marking the largest amount since January 2011 when the corresponding figure stood at $3.16 billion, the Bank of Korea said. The figure also marked the first current account deficit in nearly a year, as the nation had mai

June 4, 2020

S. Korea to allow forex delivery, commercialize drone taxis

South Korea will allow consumers to receive foreign currencies via non-face-to-face delivery services, to induce competition among service providers and promote innovation, the nation’s fiscal chief said Thursday. The government will also seek to commercialize urban air mobility services, such as drone taxis, to alleviate the ground traffic congestion and create a new growth engine for the economy. “Innovation in the foreign exchange sector has recently expanded beyond mere proc

June 4, 2020