Overseas direct investment more than doubles in Q1 amid post-pandemic recovery

South Korea's overseas direct investment more than doubled on-year in the first quarter of this year amid an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the finance ministry said Friday. The value of investments made overseas by South Korean companies reached $25.4 billion in the January-March period, up from $11.34 billion a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The net amount went up nearly threefold to $21.5 billion in the first quarter from the pr

June 17, 2022

S. Korean economy feared to lose steam amid external uncertainty: govt.

SEJONG -- The South Korean economy is at the risk of losing steam as deteriorating external economic conditions are feared to dent investment and export growth amid high inflation, the finance ministry said Friday. Market volatility and global economic downside risks further expanded due to the Federal Reserve's accelerating monetary tightening and global supply chain disruptions, the ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called the Green Book. "Amid a continued buil

June 17, 2022

S. Korea engulfed by rising stagflation fears

Fears over rapid inflation and sluggish growth are gripping South Korea, with indicators pointing to a gloomy outlook and authorities conceding that Asia’s fourth-largest economy is facing a “full-blown crisis.” The Finance Ministry on Thursday revised up its inflation forecast for this year to 4.7 percent from 2.2 percent, with the estimate surpassing 4 percent for the first time in 11 years. Import prices jumped 36.3 percent in May from the same period a year ago on soaring

June 16, 2022

Yoon to carry out deregulations, tax reform to pursue market-oriented economy

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration on Thursday unveiled a five-year plan to pursue a business-friendly and market-oriented economy by carrying out intensive deregulatory measures and alleviating the corporate tax burden. In a major shift from the previous administration‘s liberal agenda of an income-driven economy, the new government also vowed to minimize state intervention in the market. In addition, the plan includes a series of reforms, such as restructuring the national pensi

June 16, 2022

S. Korea's national debt tops W1,000tr for 1st time

South Korea's national debt surpassed the 1,000 trillion won ($781.07 billion) mark for the first time ever amid the government's expansionary fiscal spending to support the economic recovery, data showed Thursday. The total government debt hit an all-time high of 1,001 trillion won as of end-April, up by 19.1 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the finance ministry. The managed fiscal balance, a key gauge of fiscal health, posted a deficit of 37.9 trillion won

June 16, 2022

S. Korea to closely monitor market after Fed's aggressive monetary tightening

South Korea will keep close tabs on the financial market following the Federal Reserve's overnight rate hike decision as worries are growing over heightening volatility from the US' aggressive monetary tightening, the country's top financial policymaker said Thursday. On Wednesday (US time), the Fed decided to hike its interest rate by 0.75 percentage point in the latest move to tighten monetary policy and tame soaring inflation. It marked the first such steep rate increase since November 1994.

June 16, 2022

Job increase hits 22-year high of 930,000 in May

SEJONG -- The number of people employed in South Korea increased by more than 900,000 in May from a year earlier, which marked the largest job increase in 22 years for that month. But figures showed that men in their 60s or older made up more than 30 percent (32.4 percent) of the total increase, state data showed Wednesday. According to Statistics Korea, the number of jobs came to 28.48 million as of last month, up 935,000 on-year. This posted the largest growth since May 2000, when an increas

June 15, 2022

JP Morgan predicts BOK's 'big-step' rate hike amid inflation woes

Global investment bank JP Morgan on Wednesday forecast that South Korea's central bank could take a "big step" of raising its interest rate by 50 basis points as part of efforts to keep a lid on growing inflation pressure. JP Morgan also expected the Bank of Korea (BOK) to continue the sequence of its rate hikes in the months to come and raise the rate to as high as 3 percent by the end of the year. The forecast is based on its analysis of minutes the BOK disclosed a day earlier o

June 15, 2022

Auto exports up 19.1% in May on solid demand for eco-friendly cars

South Korea's car exports rose 19.1 percent in May from the previous year on the back of global popularity of eco-friendly cars, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of automobiles stood at 182,869 units last month, compared with 150,894 units a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, auto exports grew 18.9 percent on-year to $4.15 billion last month, which is a record-high figure for May. Car exports marked on-year growth

June 15, 2022

Report: S. Korea's global competitiveness ranking falls to 27th in 2021

South Korea's global competitiveness ranking fell by four notches this year from the previous year amid the economic slowdown and a continued rise in the national debt, a report showed Wednesday. South Korea ranked 27th in terms of global competitiveness among 63 countries surveyed, according to the 2022 report by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). The IMD, a Switzerland-based international institution, has been releasing the report every year since 1989 based on

June 15, 2022

Yoon vows supply-side efforts to tame inflation

President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged Tuesday to make all-out efforts to curb soaring inflation by resolving issues on the “supply side.” “The administration plans to take all possible steps to resolve issues on the supply side as the inflationary pressure is stemming from the supply side,” Yoon told reporters as he arrived at the presidential office. Tuesday’s vow follows Yoon’s orders to officials “to seek ways to ease the burden on Koreans as higher infl

June 14, 2022

ICT exports up 14% in May on solid demand for chips, displays

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products rose 13.9 percent in May from a year earlier on brisk overseas demand for chips and displays, data showed Tuesday. Outbound shipments of ICT products came to $20.2 billion last month, up from $17.73 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. It marked the highest-ever tally for May since the government began compiling related data in 1996. The country has seen dou

June 14, 2022

BOK ready to take measures amid market turmoil

South Korea's central bank said Tuesday it plans to "actively" take steps to stabilize the financial market hit hard by fears about the Federal Reserve's more aggressive rate hikes than previously thought. Global financial markets have been roiled this week amid the growing prospect that the Fed may hike interest rates by a larger-than-expected margin of 0.75 percentage point this week to tame high-flying inflation. "As volatility in South Korea's financial markets is expected to

June 14, 2022

Trade deficit hits $5.6b on decline in exports

SEJONG -- South Korea’s trade deficit, posted over the past five months on a cumulative basis, expanded during the first 10 days of June due to a decline in exports as well as a spike in import prices of raw materials including crude. The nation’s exports fell more than 12 percent during the June 1-10 period, compared to the same period of 2021, while imports increased by more than 17 percent, state data showed Monday. Korea recorded a trade deficit of $5.59 billion for the first 1

June 13, 2022

Exports down 12.7% during first 10 days of June

South Korea's exports fell 12.7 percent on-year in the first 10 days of June due largely to fewer working days, and the country suffered a trade deficit due to high fuel costs, data showed Monday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $15.07 billion in the June 1-10 period, compared with $17.3 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. The fall in exports came as the number of working days in June was fewer than a year earlier due to public holida

June 13, 2022

BOK chief signals July rate hike amid soaring inflation

Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong on Friday backed a “timely” rate hike to avoid fallout from a belated decision, ahead of a policy board meeting in July, in an address to mark the 72nd anniversary of the bank’s founding. The central bank has already lifted interest rates three times this year, doing so at every policy meeting except for the one in February -- a decision experts say demonstrates the central bank’s determination to alleviate the increasing burden on

June 10, 2022

Gas prices likely to hit record-high in weeks

SEJONG -- Gasoline prices in South Korea are likely to hit an all-time high in the coming weeks in the wake of another spike in international crude prices, with prices climbing for more than 30 consecutive days. According to the Korea National Oil Corp., the nation’s benchmark gasoline price reached 2,055.11 won ($1.62) per liter on Friday. After posting 1,931.86 won on May 6, its price tag rose for the 35th consecutive day. Some market insiders are issuing the possibility that the price

June 10, 2022

BOK chief emphasizes timely action to tame inflation, hints at more rate hikes

South Korea's top central banker on Friday emphasized the importance of timely action to fight rising inflation in the latest hint at further rate hikes amid worries that prices could fast rise amid high energy and commodity prices. Gov. Rhee Chang-yong of the Bank of Korea (BOK) made the case for the role of central banks as inflation fighters at a time when global upward inflation pressure has been mounting for a significant period of time. "In the short term, rate hikes could increa

June 10, 2022

Yoon’s economic policy direction to be unveiled next week

SEJONG -- The nation’s fiscal chief said Thursday that the Ministry of Economy and Finance will unveil the economic policy direction of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration next week, which highlights a full-fledged deregulation scheme for businesses as well as measures to tame inflation. At a ministerial meeting at the government complex, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho commented on the external uncertainty, which involves a slowdown in global economic recovery and p

June 9, 2022

OECD cuts Korea’s growth forecast to 2.7%

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Wednesday forecasted that the growth of the South Korean economy would stay in the 2 percent range this year in the wake of the inflationary pressure and the prolonged war between Ukraine and Russia. Further, the France-based organization predicted that South Korea’s inflation would reach an upper 4 percent range this year. In its latest world economic outlook report, the OECD revised down its prediction on the gross domestic

June 8, 2022