Tax revenue up W43.1t through Sept.

South Korea's tax revenue grew 43.1 trillion won ($30.3 billion) in the first nine months of 2022 from a year earlier, data showed Monday, due to improved corporate income tax. Tax revenue amounted to 317.6 trillion won in the January-September period, compared with 274.5 trillion won tallied the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. In September, the government collected 28.3 trillion won in taxes, up 2.1 trillion won from a year earlier. The ministry attributed

Oct. 31, 2022

S. Korean job market faces bleak outlook next year: KCCI

South Korea’s employment elasticity to GDP growth is expected to fall drastically next year amid a widespread of recession fears and corporate belt-tightening across industries, a report found Sunday. According to the report released by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the nation’s employment elasticity -- the percentage change in employment associated with a 1 percent growth in GDP -- posted a record high this year. Based on Bank of Korea estimates, this year Korea is exp

Oct. 30, 2022

Halloween disaster dims Itaewon's hopes of revival

Restaurants, cafes and clubs in Seoul's popular nightlife district of Itaewon seemed to be on a smooth road to recovery at last after years of pandemic disruptions -- before Saturday. But now its hopes of revival have been set back again following a disastrous overnight crowd surge. The neighborhood -- once mainly the realm of expats and American soldiers -- has transformed into a culturally diverse and trendy area beloved by locals and visitors alike in recent years. Its “Brooklyn-type&r

Oct. 30, 2022

Real estate speculation by foreigners on rise in S. Korea

South Korea will continue to look into suspicious real estate transactions by foreigners as a recent investigation found increasing illegalities involving foreigners' home purchases, the land ministry said Friday. The portion of suspicious home purchases by foreigners rose to 1.21 percent, or 6,772 cases, out of the country's total 560,000 suspicious cases this year through September, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. The portion is already higher

Oct. 28, 2022

BOK announces rate-setting meeting schedule for next year

The Bank of Korea will hold its rate-setting meeting a total of eight times in 2023, with the year's first gathering of monetary policymakers set for Jan. 13, the central bank said Friday. The meeting will also be held Feb. 23, April 13, May 25, July 13, Aug. 24, Oct. 19 and Nov. 30, according to the schedule uploaded on the website of the BOK. The BOK's rate-setting meeting draws keen attention as it determines the level of its key policy rate that serves as a benchmark for market rat

Oct. 28, 2022

S. Korean GDP growth sags as exports falter

The South Korean economy grew at its slowest pace in a year in the third quarter despite beating market expectations, as poor net exports offset consumption and investment, the Bank of Korea’s advance estimate showed Thursday. The country’s gross domestic product -- the value of all goods and services created -- grew 0.3 percent in July-September from the previous quarter, slowing from a 0.7 percent gain in April-June. Annually, the economic output posted a 3.1 percent increase in Ju

Oct. 27, 2022

Home prices fall to continue into 1st half of 2023: KDI

SEJONG -- Negative growth in the nation’s home prices expanded during the third quarter, compared to the previous quarter, in the wake of rapid rate hikes, the Korea Development Institute said Thursday. The state-run think tank, in its recent report, predicted the decline in home prices will continue through the first half of next year. But it raised a possibility of a different phase starting from the second half of 2023. It said the average trading price of homes in the Greater Seoul a

Oct. 27, 2022

Korea, ADB agree to launch ‘climate innovation hub’ in Korea

SEJONG -- South Korea and the Asian Development Bank agreed to expand cooperation on global issues, including climate change, on the occasion of Korea taking the chair for the upcoming meeting of the global development bank set to be held in Songdo, west of Seoul, next year, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. At a meeting in Seoul, Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho signed a memorandum of understanding with ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa to collaborate for

Oct. 26, 2022

South Korea well positioned to cope with economic shocks: IMF official

South Korea is well positioned to fight off any economic shock because it maintains “strong economic fundamentals and ample buffers,” a senior official at the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday, amid growing recession worries prompted by surging borrowing costs seen globally to corral inflation. Krishna Srinivasan, director of the Washington-based lender’s Asia and Pacific department, said that the country’s current account surplus and net foreign assets -- which ac

Oct. 26, 2022

[Newsmaker] Dashed dreams: Young Koreans' leveraged investments backfire

When stock and crypto markets were hot and borrowing costs were cheap, many younger South Koreans, who typically had strong risk appetite but little capital to invest, dabbled in leveraged investing, known as “bittoo” in Korean. Many of these young investors had dreamed of getting rich quick and retiring young to become a new member of “FIRE tribe” -- the acronym standing for financially independent, retire early. But many are now suffering, as markets have tanked and int

Oct. 25, 2022

Eximbank kicks off annual development cooperation workshop

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) kicked off its 26th Economic Development Cooperation Fund Annual Workshop on Tuesday, in which 14 government officials from 14 different developing countries are participating. The EDCF Annual Workshop is hosted by Eximbank to introduce development officers from developing countries to Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund. The fund was created in 1987 as part of the South Korean government’s official development assistance initiativ

Oct. 25, 2022

Inflation expectations inch up in October amid interest rate hikes: Bank of Korea survey

South Korea's inflation expectations edged up on-month in October amid the Bank of Korea's aggressive rate hikes to bring price growth under control, a central bank survey showed Tuesday. Ordinary people expected consumer prices will grow 4.3 percent over the next one year, up 0.1 percentage point from 4.2 percent polled the previous month, according to the poll conducted by the BOK. This represented the first on-month rise in three months. Those polled cited possibly rising public fee

Oct. 25, 2022

Korea readies emergency liquidity to contain ‘Legoland Crisis’

South Korea’s economic policy chiefs, led by Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho, said Sunday the government would expand liquidity facilities to buy corporate bonds and commercial paper to stop a recent credit default from spilling over into the wider financial market. “The government will earmark 50 trillion won ($34 billion), at the least, to avoid a liquidity crunch,” Choo said, noting the fund will be used starting Monday to calm growing worries over the corporate debt markets.

Oct. 23, 2022

66% of job seekers end search amid lack of entry-level jobs: survey

Nearly 7 out of 10 four-year college graduates have practically given up searching for jobs, showed a survey result published Sunday by the Federation of Korean Industries. According to the survey of 2,469 job-seeking graduates and undergraduates by the lobby group, 65.8 percent of respondents had just about stopped job searching, with 31.8 percent only habitually looking for employment, 26.7 percent rarely partaking in job searching and 7.3 percent taking a break. Meanwhile, 66.3 percent of res

Oct. 23, 2022

Policymakers to hold emergency meeting on money market jitters

South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho plans to hold an emergency meeting with the country's central bank chief and top financial regulators on Sunday to discuss ways to rein in market jitters stemming from a default on debt linked to the construction of the Legoland theme park. The session will be held amid increased volatility in the money market following a default on municipal government-guaranteed debt worth 205 billion won ($143 million) raised to fund the construction of Legoland Kor

Oct. 23, 2022

Public firms to sell assets worth W20tr by 2027: lawmaker

SEJONG -- South Korea’s public firms are poised to sell off assets, including real estate and stocks -- worth more than 20 trillion won ($14 billion) -- over the next five years, state data showed Friday. According to the combined innovation plan, which was handed over to Rep. Koh Yong-jin of the Democratic Party of Korea by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the nation’s 350 state-run firms were planning to dispose of assets worth 22.5 trillion won by 2027. Assets to go up for s

Oct. 21, 2022

Exports down 5.5% in first 20 days of October

South Korea's exports slipped 5.5 percent from the previous year in the first 20 days of October, data showed Friday, hinting that monthly outbound shipments could decrease on-year for the first time in two years. The country's outbound shipments stood at $32.4 billion in the Oct. 1-20 period, compared with $34.29 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports, on the other hand, moved up 1.9 percent on-year to $37.35 billion during the cited peri

Oct. 21, 2022

Producer prices bounce higher in September amid inflation woes

South Korea's producer prices bounced back in September following the first downturn in about two years a month earlier, as high energy and farming bills drove up costs, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, inched up 0.2 percent in September from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. From a year earlier, the index jumped 8 percent. The on-month rise came after the index dropped 0.4 percent in

Oct. 21, 2022

S. Korea needs to brace for even stronger US dollar: ex-IMF economist

The US dollar is expected to continue to gain strength against other currencies for the time being, a former economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday, warning emerging markets such as South Korea need to brace for more economic jitters. "The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates much more aggressively than other central banks," Kenneth Rogoff, a professor at Harvard University, said during an online seminar hosted by the Seoul-based Institute for Global Econ

Oct. 20, 2022

S. Korea seeks reform of shipbuilding industry's labor structure

South Korea plans to seek a structural change in the labor market of its shipbuilding industry, the finance ministry said Wednesday, amid growing criticism over shipbuilders taking advantage of subcontractors. "Recently, the overall conditions for our shipbuilding industry have been improving, with the number of orders rising following the recovery of the global shipbuilding market, coupled with higher prices," Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said during a meeting with economy-related m

Oct. 19, 2022