Korea's exports of cosmetics jump 32.1% in Q1

South Korea's exports of cosmetics continued their upside mode in the first three months of the year on strong global demand, the latest customs data showed Thursday.Outbound shipments of South Korea-made beauty products were valued at $935 million in the January-March period, up 32.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service.Exports to China rose 26.7 percent on-year to $337 million over the three-month period, despite Beijing's recent movement to

April 20, 2017

[Monitor] International Monetary Fund upgrades Korea’s 2017 growth forecast to 2.7%

The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for South Korea’s economic growth this year to 2.7 percent, driven by signs of a turnaround in the global economy.The latest forecast is up 0.1 percentage point from the 2.6 percent growth the agency estimated in its G-20 Surveillance Note in March.It is also higher than the Korean government and the central bank’s 2.6 percent projection.For 2018, it maintained its earlier prediction of 2.8 percent.The organization also projected ro

April 19, 2017

Korea's finance minister to attend G-20, IMF meetings

South Korea's finance minister will attend international meetings of the world's top economic policymakers later this week to discuss ways to improve international policy coordination, his office in Sejong said Wednesday.Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, who doubles as the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, will attend the Group of 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting to be held in Washington on Thursday and Friday, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The G-2

April 19, 2017

Debate rekindled over fiscal expansion

Debate is heating up here on the wisdom of increasing fiscal spending to help boost Korea’s sluggish economy that is expected to grow below 3 percent for three consecutive years in 2017.The issue came to the fore again last week when presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in said in a press conference on his economic policies that he would sharply expand government outlay if he won the May 9 election.Specifically, he pledged to raise the annual increase rate of government expenditure to 7 perc

April 19, 2017

Korea's economy capable of responding to crises: regulator

South Korea's economic fundamentals are sound and it is capable of "fully" responding to potential crises at home and abroad, the nation's top financial regulator said Wednesday. Zhin Woong-seob, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said, however, global uncertainties, including US interest rate hikes and a wave of protectionism, make it "increasingly difficult to predict the future we're headed towards.""Looking outward, we can also see the global environment

April 19, 2017

Korea central bank chief leaves for US G-20 meeting

South Korea's central bank chief left for Washington on Wednesday to discuss pending economic issues with his counterparts from the world's major economies, the Bank of Korea said.BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol is scheduled to attend the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors' meeting on Thursday and Friday, the central bank said.It said Lee plans to hold talks with his counterparts and finance ministers on such issues as how to establish a cooperative system for sustainable and balanced de

April 19, 2017

Producer prices fall in March on price decline in manufactured goods

South Korea's producer prices fell slightly in March from a month earlier due mainly to a decline in the prices of manufactured goods, the central bank said Wednesday.The producer price index -- a barometer of future consumer inflation -- slid 0.1 percent in March from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The BOK attributed the fall to weaker oil prices and the won's strengthening against the US dollar.Prices of Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, fell 5.9 percent in March from a m

April 19, 2017

Companies plan to hire less this year due to economic slump: survey

South Korean businesses are likely to hire fewer people this year than in 2016 amid the ongoing economic slump, a survey showed Tuesday.The survey of 258 companies with more than 100 employees conducted by the Korean Employers Federation said those polled planned to employ 6.6 percent less this year than last year.The companies plan to recruit 7.3 percent fewer college graduates and reduce the number of hirees with high school diplomas by 7.9 percent compared to the year before.Of those surveyed

April 18, 2017

Unmarried workers in 20s 30s spend more than married

Workers in their 20s and 30s spend an average of 14,800 won ($12.9) daily, with unmarried workers spending more than those who are married, according to a survey conducted by JobKorea Tuesday. The job search portal recently surveyed 2,427 workers, who are in their 20s and 30s, and asked nine questions regarding their daily expenses during work hours. Of the total 2,427 workers, 1,320 people were married and 1,107 were unmarried. The survey found that the average daily spending of unmarried

April 18, 2017

[Monitor] Daily traffic surges 17.4% in decade

South Korea‘s daily traffic volume increased 17.4 percent from 10 years ago as of last year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Tuesday.The data was collected by counting vehicles passing through select sections on highways and major roads. The number of registered vehicles reached 21.80 million in 2016, from 20.99 million in 2015.Price of gasoline, meanwhile, declined from 1,405 won ($1.23) per liter in 2015 to 1,293 won the following year.Passenger cars accounte

April 18, 2017

[News Analysis] Review of trade deal with US likely to cover only some industries: experts

US Vice President Mike Pence’s official remarks that Washington would review the 5-year-old bilateral trade deal between South Korea and the US may be only confined to a partial review of trade terms in certain industries, experts said Tuesday.Earlier in the day, Pence said the US trade deficit with Korea has more than doubled in the five years since the Korea-US free trade agreement began in 2012.“That’s the hard truth,” the visiting vice president said during a speech a

April 18, 2017

KDI raises 2017 economic growth estimate to 2.6%

A state-run think tank on Tuesday revised up its 2017 growth forecast for the South Korean economy by 0.2 percentage point to 2.6 percent thanks to a recovery in the world economy and an upturn in exports."We raised the forecast for the 2017 economy to 2.6 percent as exports improved at a faster-than-expected clip on the back of recovered global demand, and with investments likely to maintain its upbeat pace," Kim Seong-tae, a senior researcher at the Korea Development Institute (KDI),

April 18, 2017

Koreans' health care costs up 10.7% last year

Health care spending of South Korean families jumped 10.7 percent last year from a year earlier, the central bank said Tuesday, due apparently to a rise in senior citizens.Health care expenses of households came to 41.03 trillion won ($36.1 billion) last year, up 3.9 trillion won from 2015, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea. It marked the first time that total spending surpassed the 40 trillion-won mark.The ratio of health care costs to expenses of households accounted for 5.5. per

April 18, 2017

BOK says global trade likely to grow by 3.1% this year

South Korea's central bank said Tuesday that global trade is expected to expand by 3.1 percent this year on an economic recovery in the United States and other major economies.The Bank of Korea said the US economy is forecast to grow by 2.2 percent, while the Chinese and Japanese economies are expected to expand by 6.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. The economic recovery in the US and other major countries could give a boost to world trade.As global raw material transactions start to ris

April 18, 2017

Workforce at big companies shrinks in 2016: analysis

Most big name companies reduced the size of their workforce last year, affecting contracted workers the most, corporate analysis showed Tuesday.Eighty-seven listed firms affiliated with the top 10 business groups were surveyed by conglomerate tracker FnGuide, with additional information provided by the Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer system (DART) service under the Financial Supervisory Service. The results showed the companies had 629,517 employees as of the end of last year, 2.29 percent

April 18, 2017

Exports by 'new growth' biz rise 5% annually since 2012: report

South Korean exports by "new growth" businesses rose an average of 5 percent annually in the past four years, a local trade report said Monday.Exports by companies whose businesses range from robotics, semiconductors, next-generation displays and bio health to aerospace jumped to $76.7 billion in 2016 from $63.2 billion in 2012, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in a recent report.  This is in contrast to the average 2.5 percent decline in the country's overall

April 17, 2017

Potential US-China trade row bodes ill for Korean economy: report

A potential trade tussle between the US and China will have the South Korean economy suffer a decline in its growth rate due to its higher trade dependency on the neighbor, a report said Monday."Having subsided after the global financial crisis, trade protectionism is once again gaining momentum, raising concerns over the negative impact on the highly trade-dependent Korean economy," the report said released by the state-run Korea Development Institution. The report cited that the numb

April 17, 2017

Improved growth outlook carries downside risks

Cautious optimism on a rebound in the Korean economy seems still shrouded by lingering downside risks at home and abroad.The Bank of Korea’s recent revision of its growth outlook for this year to 2.6 percent from the previous forecast of 2.5 percent bolstered the view that Asia’s fourth-largest economy may be bottoming out to enter the recovery stage. The central bank’s revised growth projection is on par with forecasts by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the International

April 17, 2017

Bank of Korea to move headquarters next month for renovations

The Bank of Korea will move its headquarters to a building in central Seoul and its office in the Gangnam district of Seoul late next month as its headquarters will undergo a three-year renovation project, bank officials said Monday. The renovation project, which will be completed by the first half of 2020 and include the reconstruction of the main annex building, aims to bolster the headquarters' security and safety, BOK officials said.  It will mark the first time the central bank, as wel

April 17, 2017

Unpaid family business workers rise amid economic slump: data

The number of unpaid male workers employed at their family businesses rose sharply in recent months, government data showed Monday, as more people are trying to cope with the protracted economic slump."The surge in the number appears to be linked to a growing number of self-employed people," a Statistics Korea official said. The number jumped 11.7 percent, or 16,000, to 150,000 in the first three months this year from a year earlier, according to the official tally.The rise is the shar

April 17, 2017