Worsening employment, corporate profitability cast shade over economy

The government’s assessment that the Korean economy is still on the path to recovery is being dented by figures showing employment and corporate profitability are continuing to worsen sharply.A monthly report recently released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance adhered to the positive assessment of economic activities for nine consecutive months in August. Ministry officials have rebuffed suggestions by many economists that the country’s economy took a downward turn entering the

Aug. 20, 2018

Corporate watchdog unveils anti-corruption measures

South Korea's corporate watchdog on Monday unveiled a set of anti-corruption measures whose centerpiece seeks to boost the ethics code for its staff and ban help for retirees looking to get jobs at corporations related to their former duties.Under the measures, the Fair Trade Commission will enhance the screening of retirees' job-landing activities at private companies.Also, the corporate watchdog said it will ban any private contacts between its employees and retirees. The measures came after p

Aug. 20, 2018

Market slump raises doubts on Kosdaq revitalization initiative

Concerns have been mounting recently that despite the government’s continued efforts, the secondary stock market Kosdaq may continue to struggle throughout the year due to sluggish investor sentiment here and external trade challenges.The Kosdaq index on Thursday dived into the 740s, nearing the year’s record-low of 744.11, a figure observed on July 25, according to the nation’s bourse Korea Exchange and Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Sunday.The index soon rebounded to the 77

Aug. 19, 2018

SK Lubricants’ ZIC brand signs sponsorship with FC Barcelona

SK Lubricants’ brand SK ZIC has signed a three-year sponsorship deal with FC Barcelona in its latest move to boost brand recognition and sales, the firm said Sunday.SK Lubricants -- owned 100 percent by South Korean refiner SK Innovation -- became the first South Korean corporate sponsor of FC Barcelona since the football club’s foundation in 1899.“We plan to increase SK ZIC’s brand recognition and global sales through the sponsorship,” SK Lubricant said in a press

Aug. 19, 2018

S. Korea's GDP forecast to edge down due to US-China trade row: report

South Korea is expected to be one of the countries most affected by the protracted trade war between the United States and China, though the impact is forecast to remain limited, a report said Sunday. According to the report from the Korea International Trade Association, the country's gross domestic product is forecast to drop 0.018 percent, worth some $236.49 million, over a year if the US and China each impose 25 percent tariffs on the other's $50 billion worth of goods. China and the US are

Aug. 19, 2018

Korea's jobless rate rises in July, job additions lowest in over 8 yrs

Korea's unemployment rate rose slightly in July due to fewer positions in the health care, education academy and manufacturing sectors, with the number of new jobs created hitting the lowest in over eight years, government data showed Friday.The unemployment rate stood at 3.7 percent last month, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. The number of employed people reached 27.08 million in July, up just 5,000 from the same one-month perio

Aug. 17, 2018

Public outlays grow amid sluggish private consumption

An increase in government spending, which has been precipitated under President Moon Jae-in’s administration, contrasts with sluggish private consumption in the country.Economists note that expanded public expenditure coupled with dampened private consumption will do little to reinvigorate the Korean economy that is losing growth momentum.Recent data from the Bank of Korea showed government outlays accounted for 23.63 percent of the country’s domestic final consumption expenditure in

Aug. 15, 2018

Deregulation needed to spur corporate investments

Regulatory reforms need to be accelerated to ensure that massive investment plans unveiled or drawn up by the country’s major conglomerates will be implemented smoothly in the coming years, economists say.In the past months, six local business groups have announced plans to make new investments worth more than 330 trillion won ($290 billion) and hire 188,000 workers, with investment periods spanning one to five years.Samsung, Korea’s largest conglomerate, last week unveiled an invest

Aug. 13, 2018

OECD warns Korea is facing some stiff challenges

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development raised warnings that Korea's economy is facing some serious challenges going forward, an analysis of data showed Sunday.The alarm comes as the organization representing developed market economies with high income adjusted down Seoul's composite leading indicator , backtracking 0.3 point to 99.2 in June from the previous month. The CLI is designed to provide early estimates six to nine months down the line on fluctuations in a nation's bus

Aug. 12, 2018

Oil price, minimum wage, heat wave expected to fuel inflation

The latest increase in the global oil price and the country's minimum wage, along with the heat wave are anticipated to push up the cost of living in South Korea, a report showed Sunday.According to the report released by the Hyundai Research Institute, the country is set to be affected by a hike in living costs following multiple factors, including the increase in raw material prices and the minimum wage.The outlook came as the price of oil, which was around $26.9 per barrel in early 2016, curr

Aug. 12, 2018

Business loan increase weigh down on BOK’s rate hike dilemma

In addition to the series of slack economic indices, the latest statistics on bank loans has added further weight to burgeoning speculations that South Korea’s central bank is likely to shelve its policy rate hike action this month, holding off the inevitable decision to later in the year.The loan balance for private businesses as of the end of July stood at 304.6 trillion won ($272.6 billion), up 2.5 trillion won from a month earlier, marking the steepest on-month jump in four months, acc

Aug. 9, 2018

Korean economy decoupled from robust global growth

The Korean economy is being decoupled from a robust recovery of the global economy this year, held back by sluggish domestic demand and deteriorating external conditions.Last month, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Bank of Korea revised down their 2018 growth forecasts for Asia’s fourth-largest economy to 2.9 percent from an earlier prediction of 3 percent. The Korean economy expanded 3.1 percent last year.Private economists, however, remain skeptical about the possibility of th

Aug. 8, 2018

Vegetable prices jump 5.4% in single week from heat wave

Prices of vegetables jumped more than 5 percent last week from the week before as the heat wave continued, while the price of ice cream fell by over 40 percent, data showed Wednesday.According to a portal operated by the Korea Consumer Agency that tracks food costs, vegetable prices increased 5.4 percent as of Friday from the previous week. Processed seafood became 7 percent more expensive, and fish 2.4 percent. For vegetables, the price of cabbage was up the most, climbing 41.2 percent. Spinach

Aug. 8, 2018

Reality bites for hopes of peninsular economic cooperation

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles featuring inter-Korean relations to mark the paper’s 65th anniversary that falls on Aug. 15. Following is the fifth installment. - Ed.The possibility that the long-reclusive North Korea may open up its market for extensive development is likely to act as hopeful momentum for South Korea’s economy, which has stalled in slow growth and sluggish employment.Despite all the alluring factors, however, rosy promises of the inter-Korean eco

Aug. 7, 2018

Declining construction investment worsens unemployment

Weakening construction investment is cited by economists as a key reason for the country’s deteriorating unemployment and decelerating growth.According to a recent report from the Construction and Economy Research Institute of Korea, the on-year increase in domestic construction investment, which averaged 7.6 percent in 2017, dropped to 1.8 percent in the first quarter of this year and minus 0.7 percent in the following three months.The number of jobs created by construction investment shr

Aug. 6, 2018

Finance minister calls for corporate support in job creation, innovative growth

PYEONGTAEK -- South Korea's top economic policymaker on Monday urged Samsung Group, the country's leading conglomerate, to do more to create jobs and spearhead innovative growth in the latest appeal to the business community to join the government's job-first policy.In a meeting with Lee Jae-yong, the de facto chief of Samsung Group, and other top executives in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon stressed the importance of cooperation between the private sector and the gov

Aug. 6, 2018

More companies report zero net profit in 2017

The number of companies that either made zero net profit or pure profit of more than 10 billion won ($8.87 million) both increased last year, records from the National Tax Service showed Monday, indicating a growing gap between firms at opposing ends.According to the records on corporate tax payments, a total of 264,564 companies reported zero net profit for last year, up 9.8 percent from the previous year. The latest total is the highest since the tax agency began keeping records in 2012. Such

Aug. 6, 2018

S. Korea’s tax burden to exceed 20% in 2018

South Korea’s tax burden this year is likely to surpass 20 percent of gross domestic product for the first time, on the back of the government’s expansionist fiscal operations, officials said Sunday.The nation’s tax income this year is estimated at 365 trillion won ($323.6 billion), up 5.5 percent from the previous year, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Interior and Safety.Of the estimated total, national taxes will account for 2

Aug. 5, 2018

Household loans at 5 major banks reach W548t in July

Household loans at South Korea's five major banks reached an accumulated 548 trillion won at the end of July as people continue to borrow money to buy a house, the lenders said Saturday.  The five banks -- KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, KEB Hana Bank and NH Nonghyup Bank -- held a combined 547.7 trillion won in household loans at end-July, up 7.4 percent from 509.8 trillion won a year earlier, their data showed. The government has announced packages of measures to stabilize the

Aug. 4, 2018