Job losses extend into July amid pandemic, unemployment rate up to 4%

South Korea lost about 277,000 jobs in July, marking a decline in the number of the employed for a fifth consecutive month, as the new coronavirus pandemic strained business activities, data showed Wednesday. The country's jobless rate rose by 0.1 percentage point on-year to 4 percent in July, with the number of employed people falling to 27.1 million, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the longest fall since the eight months of decline posted in 2009 amid the globa

Aug. 12, 2020

Debates on 4th extra budget bill mount amid flood damages

After approving several sets of additional fiscal injections so far this year to deal with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea is facing mounting calls for yet another extra budget amid the recent flood damages. While political parties unanimously called for an additional budget injection, the finance minister expressed disapproval over what he saw as reckless spending amid growing deficits. The government, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the presidential office Cheo

Aug. 11, 2020

S. Korea tops OECD’s growth rate forecast for 2020

South Korea’s economy is expected to shrink minus 0.8 percent this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday, lifting it from the previous forecast of minus 1.2 percent and propelling the country to No. 1 in terms of growth rate. Asia’s fourth-largest economy became the first among OECD’s 37 member nations to have its growth forecast adjusted upward from the international organization’s earlier projections announced in June, a biannua

Aug. 11, 2020

Exports fall 24% in first 10 days of August

South Korea's exports fell 24 percent on-year in the first 10 days of August amid the fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak, customs data showed Tuesday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $8.7 billion from Aug. 1-10, down from $11.4 billion during the same period of last year, the Korea Customs Service said in a statement. The daily average exports during the 10-day period declined 13 percent on-year to $1.25 billion from $1.43 billion, it said. The pandemic has disrupted trade

Aug. 11, 2020

Imports of Japanese tobacco, beer, automobiles plummet amid boycott

South Korea’s inbound shipments of Japanese consumer goods -- especially tobacco, beer and automobiles shrank considerably in July -- amid the continuing nationwide boycott, data showed Monday. The boycott spread like wildfire across the country since July last year, when Japan said it would regulate exports of three key materials needed for Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s chip and display manufacturing. The nation’s import of Japanese goods overall dropped 23.4 perc

Aug. 10, 2020

[News Focus] Korea’s consumer index stays under OECD average for 2 years

SEJONG -- South Korea was found to have fallen short of the average of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries in consumer sentiment for the 25th consecutive month. OECD data showed that Korea’s consumer confidence index stood at 96.4 as of June 2020. Figures below 100 indicate a pessimistic attitude towards future developments in the economy, possibly resulting in a tendency to save more and consume less, according to its definition. For the Korean defini

Aug. 10, 2020

OECD forecasts S. Korea’s GDP ranking to take 9th

South Korea is forecast to climb up three notches to ninth in global gross domestic product rankings this year, despite its negative growth of 3.3 percent in the second quarter, data showed Monday.  Asia’s fourth-largest economy is likely to see 1.8 percent decline in its nominal GDP to reach $1.54 trillion this year on the condition that the country circumvents a second wave of the coronavirus, according to data from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD

Aug. 10, 2020

[Green and New] How green and new is Moon’s deal?

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles to address the Moon Jae-in administration’s “Green New Deal” policy, one of the key pillars of the so-called “Korean New Deal” economic stimulus package. -- Ed. Responding to the unprecedented socioeconomic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea has adopted a new weighty policy keyword this year -- “Korean Green New Deal.” Despite the rosy pictures suggested by policymakers, there are

Aug. 9, 2020

Economy shows signs of rebounding from slump: KDI

  After months of reeling under the coronavirus pandemic, the South Korean economy is showing signs of recovery upon the slower pace of decline in economic activity at home as well as in outbound shipments, a state-run think tank said Sunday. “South Korea’s economic slump has been alleviated as the spread of the new virus slowed down, fueling economic activity across industries,” the Korea Development Institute said in its monthly report on economic trends. It was the f

Aug. 9, 2020

Jeonse loans rise due to government regulations, low interest rate

South Koreans’ demand for jeonse loans -- designed for investors looking for two-year leases instead of purchases -- increased in July, due to government efforts to cool down the heated real estate market with loan restrictions, data showed Sunday. According to the data compiled by five major banks -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup -- the outstanding amount of such loans increased by 2.2 percent, or 2.02 trillion won ($1.8 billion), on-month to 94.55 trillion won as of e

Aug. 9, 2020

[News Focus] South Korea, No. 1 in tax revenue growth in OECD

SEJONG -- South Korea’s tax revenue was found to have increased fastest among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Korean government’s tax revenue -- the state’s income from taxation -- was equivalent to 28.42 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2018 (the latest available), according to OECD comparison data. The figure posted an increase of 2.18 percentage points in only two years, compared to 26.24 percent of GDP

Aug. 9, 2020

Next year's budget forecast to rise 8% to W550tr

The government is drawing up a budget for next year, with its size likely to top 550 trillion won ($463 billion), up 8 percent from this year's, as the country is drumming up efforts to boost the pandemic-hit economy, sources said Sunday. According to the sources, the finance ministry is set to report next year's budget draft to President Moon Jae-in this week. This year's budget was set at 512.3 trillion won, but the government has drawn up three rounds of supplementary budgets to shield Asi

Aug. 9, 2020

S. Korea to face mounting public debt next year: IMF

South Korea’s public debt is expected to surge until next year due to aggressive government spending to revive the sluggish local economy, according to the International Monetary Fund on Friday.  The IMF said the country’s general government debt-to-gross domestic product ratio -- an indicator of economic health and sustainability of government borrowing -- will surpass 46 percent this year, up 5.5 percentage points from 40.7 percent estimated last year. The pace of the ri

Aug. 7, 2020

S. Korea’s H1 current account surplus narrows to 8-year low

South Korea saw its current account surplus narrow to an eight-year low in the first half of the year, with the coronavirus pandemic dealing a blow to the global trading system, data from the central bank showed Thursday. The current account surplus for the January-June period came to $19.17 billion, marking the smallest figure since the same period in 2012, the Bank of Korea said. The surplus came to $9.65 billion at the time. The current account surplus measures an economy’s imports

Aug. 6, 2020

S. Korean economy forecast to shrink 1% in 2020

South Korea's economy is expected to contract 1 percent in 2020 from a year earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic, a private think tank said Thursday. The latest growth projection by the LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI) is much lower than its previous estimate of 1.8 percent expansion made in September last year. The think tank, affiliated with South Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate LG Group, predicted Asia's fourth-largest economy will recover and grow 2.5 percent on-year in 2021

Aug. 6, 2020

Ruling party seeks higher tax on foreign property speculators

In a bid to calm real estate prices, South Korea’s ruling party said Monday it would seek legislation to levy a heavier tax on property speculation by foreign nationals. The Democratic Party of Korea and the government said the bill would impose a 20 percent acquisition tax on home purchases by foreign nationals if the buyers do not reside there for more than six months out of the year without an acceptable reason. The current law states that taxes for foreign nationals buying real est

Aug. 5, 2020

S. Korea to push ahead with housing deregulations, despite Seoul’s disapproval

South Korea vowed Wednesday to strengthen surveillance over the transactions of expensive apartments, in a move to curb rampant speculative buying practices and to steady snowballing housing prices here. It also said that it will push ahead with its latest housing supply plan in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, regardless of the apparent discord with the municipal government over eased redevelopment rules. “(The government) will tighten control on (irregular practices in the housing mark

Aug. 5, 2020

S. Korea eyeing heavy taxes on 'speculative' foreign apartment owners

South Korea's ruling party is pushing to impose heavy taxes on "speculative" foreigner buyers of apartments here amid their rising home ownership, officials said Wednesday. The move comes as the Democratic Party (DP) has vowed to create  countermeasures if necessary amid rising concerns over foreigners' apartment purchases for speculative purposes. According to the officials, a DP lawmaker has recently proposed a bill aimed at helping prevent foreign investors from speculating

Aug. 5, 2020

S. Koreans’ demand for personal credit loans surge 2.3% in July

Korean lenders’ personal credit loans extended to borrowers gained 2.3 percent on-month in July, following the largest-ever increase in June, data showed Tuesday, fueling concerns on the nation’s heated housing market and the dire job market amid the coronavirus pandemic. Outstanding personal loans extended to individual borrowers by five major lenders here rose a combined 2.28 percent, or 2.7 trillion won ($2.26 billion), from the previous month to 120.2 trillion won last month, in

Aug. 4, 2020

Vietnam-EU FTA to benefit S. Korean fashion firms: KITA

South Korean fashion firms based in Vietnam are expected to benefit from the free trade agreement (FTA) between the Southeast Asian country and the European Union, which went into effect this month, a report showed Tuesday. "Under the agreement, clothes producers based in Vietnam can enjoy the benefit of the latest FTA for goods made with South Korean materials," the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in its report. Clothes produced with Chinese materials, on the oth

Aug. 4, 2020