80% of South Koreans to receive W250,000 cash relief

Some 80 percent of South Koreans will receive 250,000 won ($220) each in the latest COVID-19 cash handout program, officials said Thursday. After a pangovernmental meeting, officials said they have decided to earmark 10.4 trillion won for the nation’s fifth cash relief program. The money will be funneled from the nation’s 33 trillion-won second COVID-19 extra budget for this year, which the ruling party and government jointly unveiled Tuesday. The “bottom 80 percent income b

July 1, 2021

Eximbank to extend massive ESG lending by 2030

The state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) said Thursday it will provide 180 trillion won (US$159 billion) worth of loans related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) by 2030. The state lender made the pledge while announcing its ESG management road map to mark the 45th anniversary of its foundation at its headquarters in Seoul. The road map also includes the issuance of ESG bonds worth $20 billion by that year to extend loans to the ESG sector, Eximbank said. ESG bonds ref

July 1, 2021

Summer electricity demand to perk up amid economic recovery

Energy demand here is expected to rise over the summer in sync with the recovery of industrial activities and hotter-than-usual weather conditions, the industry ministry said Thursday. The country's maximum electricity demand is estimated to range from 90.9 to 94.4 gigawatts (GW) during the peak of this summer, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The ceiling is based on the assumption that the average temperature hits 30.2 C during the peak. The estimated peak summer ene

July 1, 2021

Online lender K-Bank enjoys robust growth in Q2

K-Bank, South Korea's first internet-only bank, said Thursday its customers and deposits grew sharply in the second quarter of the year amid the coronavirus outbreak. The number of customers stood at 6.19 million as of the end of June, 2.28 million more than three months earlier, the lender said, which is led by telecom giant KT Corp. The online lender's outstanding loans totaled 5.09 trillion won ($4.5 billion), up 1.29 trillion won from the first quarter, which marks the largest quarterly in

July 1, 2021

S. Korea proposes W33tr extra budget to fund another COVID-19 relief aid

South Korea proposed an extra budget of 33 trillion won ($29.2 billion) Thursday to fund another round of COVID-19 relief aid packages for people in the bottom 80 percent income bracket and smaller merchants hit by the pandemic. This year's second extra budget will be used to finance the 36 trillion-won virus relief packages, the fifth of its kind, designed to support the self-employed and vulnerable people hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Th

July 1, 2021

S. Korea's exports to hit record high in 2021: KOTRA

South Korea's exports are expected to reach a record high in 2021, a report said Thursday, on the back of the global economic recovery and stronger demand for semiconductor products. Outbound shipments are expected to reach up to $610 billion this year, up 19 percent from 2020, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). The country's exports dropped 5.5 percent on-year in 2020 to $512 billion amid the COVID-19 pandemic. KOTRA attributed the rosy outlook to strong overs

July 1, 2021

Mega R&D projects eyed to foster rechargeable battery sector: minister

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Thursday the country will push for large-scale research and development (R&D) projects to foster the next-generation rechargeable battery industry. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government will soon unveil the detailed plan to nurture the rechargeable battery sector with the goal of the country taking the lead in the segment. The government plans to help companies secure the stable supply chains of materials for such batteries and to fost

July 1, 2021

Exports spike 40% in June, extend growth to 8th month

South Korea's exports jumped 39.7 percent on-year in June to extend their gains to an eighth consecutive month on the back of a recovery in global business activities, which led to stronger demand for chips and automobiles, data showed Thursday. Outbound shipments came to $54.8 billion last month, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports climbed 40.7 percent to $50.3 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $4.44 billion. It marked the 14th consecut

July 1, 2021

S. Korea, Saudi Arabia eye closer ties in clean energy

South Korea and Saudi Arabia vowed Wednesday to expand ties in the clean energy sector under their joint vision to seek sustainable development through 2030. Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook met his Saudi counterpart, Khalid Al-Falih, virtually to discuss ways to strengthen the bilateral ties under the Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 Committee platform, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two countries launched the committee in 2017 in line with efforts to broaden their strate

June 30, 2021

BOK sells net $103m in market smoothing operations in Q1

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Wednesday it sold a net $103 million in the first quarter to help ease fluctuations in the local currency market. The BOK began releasing such data in March 2019 to help boost the transparency of its market stabilization steps. A BOK official said market smoothing operations in the first quarter came as the Korean currency weakened against the US dollar. The Korean currency closed at 1,131.8 won against the US dollar on March 31, compared with 1,086.3 won at the e

June 30, 2021

‘House prices may fall over rate hike, regulations’

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki warned Wednesday that the housing market was overvalued, and that a scheduled tightening of loan regulations and a possible interest rate hike could see home prices fall. During a government meeting on the real estate market, Hong urged market participants to refrain from buying homes based on expectations of future price increases. “An inflow of liquidity into the housing market could slow down as the country is set to implement measures to slow the growt

June 30, 2021

STX Offshore wins orders for 12 ships

Midsized shipyard STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. said Wednesday that it has signed deals to build 12 ships with Oceanian companies. The vessels include two 10,000-ton petrochemical carriers (PCs), six 50,000-ton PCs and four 115,000-ton oil tankers, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding said. The deal for four oil tankers has an option to build two additional oil tankers, the company said. But the shipbuilder did not reveal the value of the deals, citing confidentiality clauses. The ships wil

June 30, 2021

Manufacturing sentiment improves for Q3 on economic recovery

A majority of South Korean manufacturers expect their business conditions to improve in the third quarter from three months earlier on a global economic recovery, a poll showed Wednesday. A survey of about 2,400 manufacturing firms put the business sentiment index (BSI) at 103 for the July-September period, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said. The figure is up 4 points from the current quarter and marks the first time in about seven years that the reading has stayed above th

June 30, 2021

Cars, chemicals among major winners of S. Korea-EU FTA: KITA

South Korea has been enjoying robust exports of automobiles and chemical products to the European Union over the past 10 years on the back of its free trade agreement (FTA) with the world's single largest economic bloc, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of automobiles came to $8.4 billion in 2019, which doubled from $3.3 billion tallied in 2010, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association. South Korea became the first Asian country to implement an FTA wi

June 30, 2021

BOK, KDB to extend purchase of subprime corporate bonds until year-end

The Bank of Korea (BOK) and state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) will extend their purchasing of corporate bonds, including low-rated debts, and commercial papers to further stabilize bond markets until the end of this year, the central bank said Wednesday. In May last year, the BOK approved an 8 trillion-won ($6.64 billion) loan to a special purpose vehicle, which was set up by the KDB, to buy subprime corporate bonds and commercial papers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The vehicle had been sc

June 30, 2021

S. Korea to launch annual meetings with Fitch this week

South Korea will begin its annual consultation meetings with global rating agency Fitch Ratings this week over the country's economic conditions, Seoul's finance ministry said Wednesday. The government will hold online meetings with the agency from Wednesday to July 8 to discuss the country's economic situations and its growth outlook. Fitch will hold a series of meetings with officials from the finance ministry, the Bank of Korea, the Ministry of Unification and other institutions. Finance M

June 30, 2021

New home permits climb 20% in Jan.-May

New home permits in South Korea swelled nearly 20 percent in the first five months of the year amid rising housing prices, the government said Wednesday. Construction permits issued for new homes stood at 186,743 units in the January-May period, up 19.9 percent from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. New construction permits in the South Korean capital of Seoul spiked 39.6 percent to 30,915 over the cited period. New home permits issued in the capital

June 30, 2021

Finance minister warns of possible fall in housing prices amid looming rate hike

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Wednesday excessive demand for home buying could ease amid the central bank's move toward monetary tightening and stricter regulations on household lending. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki warned that housing prices could fall if a severe external economic shock occurs at a time when households have maintained high levels of leverage. "An inflow of liquidity into the housing market could slow down as the country is set to implement measures to slow

June 30, 2021

Samsung Electronics top patent holder in S. Korea for 5 years: data

Global tech titan Samsung Electronics Co. has ranked first in the number of patents filed in South Korea over the past five years, data showed Wednesday. Samsung registered 19,588 patents with local authorities between 2016 and June 10 this year, the most among local companies, according to the data from corporate tracker CEO Score. The number accounts for 13.8 percent of a combined 141,752 patents filed by 345 companies out of the country's top 500 firms by sales over the cited period. Samsu

June 30, 2021

Industrial output rebounds in May, retail sales suffer biggest fall in 10 months

South Korea's industrial output bounced back in May, but retail sales fell by the most in 10 months in the latest sign that the recovery of private spending still remains weak amid the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The industrial output inched up 0.1 percent in May from the previous month, rebounding from a 1.2 percent on-month contraction in April, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. From a year earlier, it rose 7.3 percent. The rebound came as production in the public adm

June 30, 2021