S. Korea reports 1st job loss since 2009 over coronavirus pandemic

South Korea reported its first on-year job loss since 2009 in March as the coronavirus pandemic began inflicting damage on the job market, data showed Friday. The nation lost about 195,000 jobs last month, marking the sharpest monthly decline since May 2009, when it lost some 240,000 jobs, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage point on-year, but the number of employed people fell to 26.6 million in March, according to the data compi

April 17, 2020

BOK to extend loans to brokerages in unprecedented move

South Korea’s central bank has decided to launch a new loan program for brokerages, temporarily broadening its range of collateral to corporate bonds, officials said Thursday. The move aims to provide cushion for the local market, which has been struggling to deal with the economic fallout of the new coronavirus. Under the program worth 10 trillion won ($8.1 billion), local brokerages and nonbanking financial institutions including brokerages and insurers will be allowed to borrow funds

April 16, 2020

S. Korea's economy shows 'deepening contraction' over coronavirus pandemic: KDI

The South Korean economy shows signs of a "deepening contraction" as the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures have halted global businesses and ravaged consumer demand, a state-run think tank said Thursday. "The Korean economy is showing a deepening contraction and mounting uncertainties as COVID-19 spreads," the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in its English-language Monthly Economic Trends publication. South Korea's overall industrial output contracted the

April 16, 2020

BOK names 3 candidates for new members of its rate setting body

The Bank of Korea said Thursday that South Korea's former top envoy to the US and two others have been named as candidates for new members of its monetary policy board. The three are Cho Yoon-je, who served as the South Korean ambassador to the United States between 2017 and 2019; Suh Young-kyung, head of the Sustainable Growth Initiative; and Joo Sang-yong, an economics professor at Konkuk University. Suh served as the first female BOK deputy governor for three years until 2015 before headi

April 16, 2020

Moon’s economic policy to gain momentum on ruling party’s victory

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s landslide victory in the latest national assembly elections is expected to work as a catalyst for President Moon Jae-in’s economic policy agenda -- including more emergency cash handouts and housing market regulations. Thursday’s preliminary election results allowed the Democratic Party and its satellite Platform Party to secure 180 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, which is likely to expand the scope of the government's e

April 16, 2020

Extra budget bill of W7.6tr proposed to aid virus-hit households

The government on Thursday unveiled a second extra budget bill worth 7.6 trillion won ($6.2 billion) to provide emergency relief to households amid the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount will be provided entirely by slashing other expenditure and readjusting government funds, without issuing additional bonds, officials said. “In order to finance the 9.7 trillion won required to pay out the emergency disaster relief funds, (the government) has drafted a 7.6 trillion

April 16, 2020

S. Korea issues English brochure on ‘flattening the curve’

The South Korean government has issued a new brochure in English to share with the rest of the world its experiences of responding to the new coronavirus, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Wednesday. The 90-page policy report -- titled “Flattening the curve on COVID-19” -- is the second on the topic that the country has published since receiving a request from the World Bank in late March. The latest brochure was drafted jointly by the Finance Ministry, the ICT Ministry, th

April 16, 2020

[Contribution] Country ownership in times of international assistance

The concept of “country ownership” is a key attribute of all investments and projects that multilateral and international organizations have incorporated into their objectives and constitutions. The concept emerged as a dominant way of thinking in the late 1990s, when the focus of the international aid architecture began to shift from donor-driven decision-making toward empowering recipient countries, building their capacities and greater partnership. In 2019, the Independent Evalua

April 16, 2020

Global economy to face biggest setback since Great Depression: IMF

The COVID-19 pandemic will lead to an extensive slump in the global economy, much more than that of the Great Depression in 1930, according to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday. However, South Korea is likely to suffer fewer economic damages, due to its extensive quarantine measures and preemptive policy actions to counter the blow of the pandemic. In its revised World Economic Outlook report, the IMF forecast that the global economy this year will contract 3 percent on-year. The upda

April 14, 2020

Export prices sink to lowest level since 2016

South Korea’s export prices fell in March, as the fallout of the new coronavirus continued to rattle domestic and global markets, central bank data showed Tuesday. While global oil prices largely weighed upon the figure, the uptrend in the semiconductor business partly countered the downside effects. The export prices index in terms of local currency stood at 96.59 last month, down 1.1 percent from a month earlier and reaching the lowest since September 2016, according to preliminary

April 14, 2020

[Economy in Pandemic] S. Korea’s shrinking job market sparks fears of recession

Slammed by the novel coronavirus, South Korea’s labor market is shrinking fast, sparking concerns over its impact on consumer spending and the possibility of a sharp recession. Total payouts for state unemployment benefits hit a record high of nearly 900 billion won ($738 million) in March, data released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor showed Monday. The figure had jumped by a whopping 40.4 percent on-year, affected by the risks stemming from the COVID-19 crisis. The number of

April 14, 2020

BOK to deliver $2b more to banks via US currency swap this week

The Bank of Korea (BOK) will deliver an additional $2 billion to local banks this week in its third injection of US banknotes under a bilateral currency swap arrangement with the US Federal Reserve aimed at preventing a foreign exchange liquidity crunch here, the bank said Tuesday. The BOK held an online auction to provide up to $4 billion in seven-day debt and 84-day loans. Bids undershot the BOK target of $3.5 billion in 84-day loans and $500 million in seven-day loans. Successful bidders

April 14, 2020

Domestic stock funds’ returns recover on market rebound

South Korea's domestic stock investment funds are enjoying a recovery in their returns on a recent market rebound, data showed Tuesday. Domestic equity funds with a net asset value of 1 billion won ($821,000) or more yielded an average 7.59 percent in the week ending Monday, according to the data from market tracker FnGuide. The number outperformed an average 5.5 percent return for overseas stock investment funds and 0.22 percent for local bond funds over the cited period. The average yield

April 14, 2020

Advance payments in state contracts to be expanded to help virus-hit firms

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a revised ordinance on advance payments in state contracts to help companies damaged by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. Under the revised ordinance, the government will be allowed to make up to 80 percent of a total contract sum in an advance payment from late this month, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. Currently, the government is allowed to make up to 70 percent of a total contract sum in an advance payment, officials said.

April 14, 2020

After resilience in March, exports plummet in April

South Korea’s exports have fallen by more than 18 percent so far this month, government data showed Monday. Weighing further on the country’s export front is the fast-spreading pandemic in developed economies, as well as the gloomy outlook for the semiconductor market throughout the year. Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw the value of its exports stand at $12.21 billion this month as of last Friday, down 18.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Customs Servic

April 13, 2020

Banks' loan delinquency rate inches up in Feb.

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans edged up in February from a month earlier, data showed Monday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.43 percent at the end of February, up 0.02 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). But compared with a year ago, the rate was down 0.09 percentage point, it said. The delinquency rate for loans extended to companies increased 0.04 percent

April 13, 2020

State debt sales hit record high amid virus outbreak in Q1

South Korea's state bond sales reached a new high in the first quarter of the year due to more fiscal spending to cushion the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus outbreak, data showed Monday. The government issued 62.4 trillion won ($51.5 billion) in state bonds and Treasurys in the January-March period, up 29.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The tally is up a whopping 156 percent from the previous quarter and marks

April 13, 2020

BOK awaits state approval for loan extension to nonbanking entities

South Korea’s central bank is awaiting government signoff on an emergency program that would extend loans to nonbanking institutions, sources said Sunday, as both monetary and fiscal authorities aim to further funnel liquidity into the markets to counter the effects of the novel coronavirus. “We are currently preparing to launch an emergency lending program as swiftly as possible,” a Bank of Korea official said. The program -- which is expected to mirror actions taken by t

April 12, 2020

Foreign investors' bond holdings at record high amid uncertainty

Foreign investors held a record amount of state bonds and monetary stabilization debts amid increased uncertainties stemming from the outbreak of the new coronavirus, data showed Sunday. According to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service, foreign investors held a combined 134.1 trillion won ($111 billion) worth of state bonds and other listed debts as of Thursday, up 1.08 trillion won from the end of last month. The reading marks the largest ever since the financial watchdog

April 12, 2020

Job losses unavoidable amid pandemic: finance minister

South Korea is likely to see a visible decline in job creation despite the government’s continued efforts to shore up the economy in the face of the novel coronavirus, according to the top fiscal policymaker on Thursday. “There is a high possibility that unemployment may rise among part-time workers and small business owners,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki in a meeting of economy-related ministers held at Seoul Government Complex. “The vo

April 9, 2020