Korea's money supply up 5.9% in February

The money supply in South Korea jumped 5.9 percent in February from a year earlier, the central bank said Tuesday.The nation's "M2" totaled 2,420.2 trillion won ($2.1 trillion) in February, compared with 2,285.3 trillion won a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.Month-on-month, the money supply gained 0.3 percent, the statement said.M2 is a measure of the money supply counting the currency in circulation, including bank debentures and deposits with a maturity of less th

April 11, 2017

Korea subject to 187 cases of import restrictions, probe in foreign countries

South Korea has been subjected to 187 cases of import restrictions or related investigations by foreign authorities as of end of last month, the heaviest penalty imposed by India, a local trade group said Tuesday.The restrictive measures come from 30 countries in the form of anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, safeguards or a combination of them.Anti-dumping probes and regulations accounted for in 138 of 187 cases, with 41 safeguards and seven cases where the punitive measures were combi

April 11, 2017

Korean economy shows some signs of recovery

South Korea's economy is showing some signs of a recovery led by a steady rise in exports, investment and an upturn in private consumption, a government report said Tuesday."As exports-led momentum boosted production and investment and private consumption bottomed out in recent months, the South Korean economy seems to present some signs of a turnaround," the finance ministry said in its monthly economy assessment report called the "Green Book."The report is based on the late

April 11, 2017

Korea's exports gain 6.1% in first 10 days of April

South Korea's exports increased 6.1 percent in the first 10 days of April from a year earlier on the back of brisk overseas sales of semiconductors and vehicles, customs data showed Tuesday.Total outbound shipments reached $11.2 billion during the cited period, up from $10.5 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service.The increase was led by a 51.8 percent on-year gain in exports of semiconductors and a 23.2 percent surge in passeng

April 11, 2017

Tax revenue sharply up through Feb.

South Korea's national tax revenue continued to rise in the first two months of the year on increased value added taxes and income taxes, the finance ministry said Tuesday.The government collected a total of 46.2 trillion won ($40.4 billion) in taxes in the January-February period, up 3.6 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.It marked 19.1 percent of the tax revenue of 235.1 trillion won earmarked for 2017, up 0.8 percentage point higher than the sa

April 11, 2017

[Monitor] Intermediate trade buoyed by overseas smartphone production

South Korean businesses’ profits made from intermediate trade surged significantly last year. The total net profit reached $9.46 billion, up 18.9 percent from the previous year.Net profits from intermediate trade have been increasing since several years ago, as businesses started investing heavily overseas, and had reached a record high of $14.6 billion in 2014.Popular goods for intermediate trade are smartphones, computers, television and other high value-added electronics. By 2012, overs

April 10, 2017

Korea’s trade surplus with US falls before currency report release

South Korea’s imports of US goods have increased sharply this year in an apparent reflection of Seoul’s efforts to reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries ahead of the release of the US Treasury Department’s latest currency report this week. According to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the country’s imports from the US rose 18.8 percent from a year earlier to $12.09 billion during the first quarter of the year. As a result, Korea saw its

April 10, 2017

Gap in purchasing power among income groups sharply widens

The gap in real income and purchasing power by the higher income class and the lower income one in South Korea has further expanded due largely to a sharp growth gap in their nominal income, a report showed Monday.According to the report by the state-run Korea Development Institute, the real income of those in the lowest income bracket, or the first quintile, has grown an average 1.2 percent from 2003 to 2016, while the richest people saw their real income gain 1.9 percent on average over the sa

April 10, 2017

Korea's net exports of goods under merchanting trade up 19% last year

South Korea's net exports of goods through merchanting trade jumped 18.9 percent in 2016 from a year earlier due to brisk sales of smartphones, central bank data showed Monday.The country's net exports of goods under a merchanting arrangement came to $9.46 billion in 2016, up $1.5 billion, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea.The increase is mostly driven by brisk sales of South Korea's smartphones built in overseas plants.Profits from smartphone sales pushed up South Korea's net expo

April 10, 2017

Production, consumption slip in September

South Korea’s industrial output and consumption shrank in September, government data showed Monday, reflecting the nation’s dire economics situation. The impact from sluggish exports, the Galaxy Note 7 recall, Hyundai Motor strike and Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy were felt on the indexes of industrial output and consumption in September, according to data released by Statistics Korea. The index of all industry production in September decreased by 0.8 percent from the previous month

Oct. 31, 2016

Number of Chinese visitors falls after THAAD dispute

The number of Chinese tourists who visited South Korea in August decreased from the previous month, apparently due to political tension between the two countries over the deployment of a missile defense system here, data showed Thursday. The number of visitors from China stood at 873,771 in August, down from 917,519 in July, according to the report from the state-run Korea Tourism Organization.  But it was also 70.2 percent higher than the same period in 2015, which saw a dramatic decrea

Sept. 25, 2016

[Weekender] Frustrated youth seek opportunities overseas, but reality is harsh

On an early September morning, Jung Yun-jin arrived in Seoul from her hometown of Busan. Clad in a black jacket and skirt with neatly combed hair, she was to attend a 30-minute job interview for a Korean-run company in New Zealand in the afternoon. The 24-year-old hoped that the interview would lead to the end of a year of unemployment. “I hope I stand a better chance abroad,” Jung told the Korea Herald after the interview on Sept. 6. A graduate from a four-year university in Busa

Sept. 23, 2016