S. Korea breaks six-year winning streak on Bloomberg Innovation Index

South Korea ranked No. 2 on the Bloomberg Innovation Index this year, putting an abrupt halt to its six-year winning streak, government data showed Sunday.According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Korea scored 88.16 points this year, slipping a notch from last year, but has remained in the top three for nine consecutive years. Germany took the crown this year with a score of 88.21 points, switching places with Korea. Singapore was next, rebounding to No. 3. The annual Bloomberg Inno

Jan. 19, 2020

BOK freezes policy rate at 1.25% amid hope of economic recovery

South Korea’s central bank maintained the country’s base interest rate at 1.25 percent, prolonging its wait-and-see approach amid mounting expectations of an economic recovery this year. The Bank of Korea’s Monetary Policy Board announced Friday that the key rate will be kept at the record low of 1.25 percent, largely conforming to market expectations.The rate-setting board carried out two rate cuts last year, reducing by 0.25 percentage point each time, in July and October.In

Jan. 17, 2020

Weak exports, construction investment continue to weigh on economy: report

Sluggish exports and weaker construction investment continued to weigh on South Korea's economy, despite a solid gain in service output and consumption, a government report showed on Friday.  In its monthly economic assessment report, the finance ministry said market sentiment improved after the United States and China signed an initial trade deal, but uncertainties linger on prospects for a second phase of the US-China trade deal.  "Exports and construction investment are still i

Jan. 17, 2020

BOK stands pat, previous cuts and improving conditions in focus

As widely expected, South Korea's central bank on Friday left its policy rate frozen, citing slight improvements in the economic and trade conditions facing Asia's fourth-largest economy and the need to assess the effect of previous rate cuts.The Bank of Korea's monetary policy board voted 5 to 2 to keep the rate steady at a record low 1.25 percent.Friday's monetary policy decision was in line with market consensus. In a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News A

Jan. 17, 2020

S. Korea all set for annual ADB meeting slated for May in Songdo

South Korea’s government will be initiating the registration process for the annual meeting of the Asia Development Bank, to be held here in May this year, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Thursday.“We have finished reorganizing the official website for the operation of the 53rd ADB Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors,” said Jung Byung-sik, operation head of the ministry’s task force, adding that registration starts Friday.While official registration is throu

Jan. 16, 2020

NTS publishes year-end tax settlement manuals for foreigners

South Korea’s tax agency said Thursday that it has published its year-end tax settlement manuals for foreigners in English, Chinese and Vietnamese.The publication of tax manuals in foreign languages, while are available both online and offline, comes as the number of foreign employees has been growing.According to the National Tax Service data, Chinese and Vietnamese filers for the 2018 year-end tax settlement accounted for 44 percent of the total filers.  The tax agency also provides

Jan. 16, 2020

[News Focus] South Korea’s farm population halves in 20 years

SEJONG -- Fifty years ago, the number of South Koreans engaged in agriculture accounted for more than 40 percent of the total population.But the farming population (defined by the government as people in farming households) has continued to drop. It fell to below 30 percent of the total population in 1980 and was about 15 percent in 1990, according to government data.The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs noted that the farming population posted 4.4 million in 1998, accounting for 9

Jan. 16, 2020

S. Korea’s employment indexes hit record high, contradict job market reality

South Korea saw its employment rate hit a 22-year high last year, boosted by a stronger-than-expected job growth in December, government data showed Wednesday.Asia’s fourth-largest economy, however, continues to face structural problems as the latest result was mostly attributable to the government’s policy efforts and also focused heavily on specific age groups.The country recorded 27.15 million workers employed in December -- up 516,000 from a year earlier -- marking the large

Jan. 15, 2020

Korea's exports may get boost from slight oil price uptick amid US-Iran tensions

A moderate increase in global oil prices sparked by US-Iran tensions is likely to help boost South Korea's exports, a trade association said Wednesday.A 10 percent hike in global oil prices will lead to a 3.2 percent rise in South Korea's outbound shipments, according to the Korea International Trade Association. The trade surplus, however, will narrow as its imports will increase by a slightly higher rate of 3.3 percent.Earlier this month, the benchmark Dubai crude shot up to nearly $70 pe

Jan. 15, 2020

Korea's export prices slightly rise in Dec.

South Korea's export prices slightly increased from a month earlier in December, ending a three-month drop, central bank data showed Wednesday.The export price index, in terms of Korean won, came to 97.54 in the month, up 0.8 percent from revised 96.74 in November, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The increase follows three consecutive months of on-month decline since September. However, it comes largely on the weakening of the won against the US dollar that pushed up prices

Jan. 15, 2020

Job additions hit over 5-year high in Dec., jobless rate steady at 3.4%

South Korea's jobless rate remained flat at 3.4 percent in December, but Asia's fourth-largest economy reported a stronger-than-expected job growth last month with job additions coming to 516,000, data showed Wednesday.It was the strongest monthly job additions in five years and four months, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.The unemployment rate for young adults -- those aged between 15 and 29 -- fell to 7.3 percent last month from 8.3 percent tallied a year earlier. For all of

Jan. 15, 2020

S. Korea to draw up private sector infrastructure projects worth W17tr

South Korea will draw up private sector infrastructure projects worth 17 trillion won ($14.7 billion) this year in a bid to spur an economic recovery through investments, the finance ministry said Tuesday.Vice Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol made the remarks at a meeting with relevant officials on infrastructure projects earlier in the day.Among the new infrastructure projects under review are 13.5 trillion won worth of major roads and railways and 3.5 trillion won worth of environment-related bu

Jan. 14, 2020

Aging society drags actual interest rate down 3% over 20 years: BOK

South Korea’s growing longevity has had the effect of lowering the country’s actual interest rate by 3 percent over the past 20 years, central bank data showed Monday.According to the latest report issued by the Bank of Korea’s Economic Research Institute, Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its ratio of senior citizens -- those aged 65 or older compared to those aged 20 to 64 -- soar to 19.4 percent in 2015 from 9.6 percent in 1995.In a causal relationship with such demogr

Jan. 13, 2020

Korea's minting agency sees sales rise 9.1% in 2019

South Korea's state-run minting agency said Monday its sales rose 9.1 percent on-year in 2019, as it expanded overseas sales of gold and silver bar products. The Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp. reported sales of 524.6 billion won ($454.1 million) last year, the company said in a statement. It was the first time that annual sales of KOMSCO had exceeded 500 billion won, according to the statement. The agency has sought to bolster its overseas sales of gold and s

Jan. 13, 2020

S. Korea's ratio of unemployed in late 20s ranks highest among OECD nations

The proportion of unemployed people aged 25-29 in South Korea has ranked the highest among member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a report showed Monday. According to the report by the Bank of Korea, the 25-29 age bracket accounted for 21.6 percent of unemployed people in South Korea in 2018, marking the highest ratio among OECD members.It marked the seventh consecutive year that the proportion of unemployed people aged 25-29 in South Korea ranked highest am

Jan. 13, 2020

BOK tipped to keep policy rate steady at record low: poll

The Bank of Korea is widely expected to keep its policy rate frozen at a record low of 1.25 percent this week, a poll showed Monday, amid growing signs of recovery in the global chip market that could finally end the steady decline in the country's exports after 13 months.All 19 analysts surveyed in a poll by Yonhap Infomax forecast a rate freeze this Friday when the BOK monetary policy board holds its first rate-setting meeting of the year. "We expect the BOK to keep the rate steady f

Jan. 13, 2020

Korea's exports up 5.3% in first 10 days of January

South Korea's exports rose 5.3 percent in the first 10 days of January, mainly due to rising shipments of semiconductors, customs data showed Monday.The country's exports stood at $13.3 billion in the January 1-10 period, compared with $12.7 billion in the same period last year, according to the Korea Customs Service. By product, exports of semiconductors and petrochemical goods rose 11.5 percent and 30.6 percent, respectively. In contrast, outbound shipments of passenger cars and wireless

Jan. 13, 2020

S. Korean policymakers on tenterhooks ahead of key economic data

A series of key macroeconomic data due to be released this week is giving cold sweat to fiscal policymakers, as they could throw light on South Korea’s economic outlook this year.Market watchers are paying close attention to whether employment in the manufacturing sector will show an uptick, along with a recovery in exports and construction investments.  On Wednesday, Statistics Korea will present its employment report for December and for the entire year.The number of newly added job

Jan. 12, 2020

S. Korea's exports to Iran dip nearly 90% in 2019

South Korea's exports to Iran dropped nearly 90 percent from a year earlier in the first 11 months of last year, the fastest rate among the top 20 export countries, data showed Sunday.In the January-November period, Seoul's shipments to the Middle East country came to $259 million, down 88.6 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the data from the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.The amount still marked the 14th largest, but the rate the drop was by far the hi

Jan. 12, 2020

S. Korea to speed up budget spending in Q1: vice finance minister

South Korea will speed up its budget spending in the first quarter as it seeks to revitalize the economy through large-scale investment projects, a vice finance minister said Friday. Vice Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said it is most important for the economy to gain recovery momentum this year, backed by the government's expansionary fiscal policies. "The government will focus on spending in social infrastructure and job creation in the first quarter," Koo said, according to a statem

Jan. 10, 2020