Outgoing fiscal chief hints at FX intervention over weakening won

SEJONG -- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Thursday sent a signal that the financial authority would move to intervene in the foreign exchange market as the Korean currency sharply lost value against the US dollar recently. During a meeting to map out countermeasures against the current economic situation in Seoul, Hong said the won lost ground against the dollar at a fast pace this week. The rising dollar prices were attributed to the possibility of faster-than-expect

April 28, 2022

Retail sales up 7% in March amid worst COVID-19 wave

Retail sales in South Korea rose 7.1 percent in March from a year earlier on the back of growing demand for foodstuff, daily items and luxury goods amid the worst wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry ministry said Thursday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 13.69 trillion won ($10.81 billion) last month, up from 12.8 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Sales from offline stores rose 6.

April 28, 2022

S. Korea's auto exports edge down in Q1

South Korea's exports of autos declined for the first time in seven quarters in the January-March period amid global supply chain disruptions and Russia's war with Ukraine, customs data showed Thursday. The country's outbound shipments of cars came to $10.93 billion in the first quarter, down 0.6 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Autos accounted for some 7 percent of South Korea's exports. It marked the first on-year fall since the second qu

April 28, 2022

Steel, textile to see benefits under CPTPP: biz lobbies

SEJONG -- South Korea is projected to see export growth in the steel and textile sectors if the nation becomes a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. But sectors like machinery, fine chemistry and auto parts could suffer handicaps in the wake of the technology gap with Japan, according to forecasts from a variety of business lobbies. The associations delivered their outlook of each industry if the country were to be a member of the CPTPP to the M

April 27, 2022

ABS issuance down 20.2% in Q1

The issuance of asset-backed securities (ABSs) in South Korea shrank 20.2 percent on-year in the first quarter due to decreased sales of mortgage-backed securities, data showed Wednesday. The ABS issued during the January-March period came to 10.9 trillion won ($8.7 billion), down 2.8 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). ABS refers to securities based on such assets as mortgages, auto loans, credit card receivables and student loan

April 27, 2022

Consumer sentiment up in April amid lifting of most pandemic restrictions

South Korea's consumer sentiment improved for the third straight month in April as the country lifted most social distancing rules as part of efforts to return to normal from the pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The composite consumer sentiment index came to 103.8 in April, up 0.6 point from the previous month, according to data from the Bank of Korea. A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists. The April figure marked the third straight on-month rise of the index. Las

April 27, 2022

Palm oil incident adds uncertainty over Korea’s GDP

SEJONG -- A possible glitch in imports of palm oil is expected to further fan inflationary pressure in South Korea and constrain household consumption, which could hamper the growth of the gross domestic product. Palm oil is used for producing Korean instant noodles and snacks. Its largest producer Indonesia said it would issue a ban on exports of palm oil later this week. The Indonesian government made it clear that the decision was aimed at maintaining a stable domestic supply. As products

April 26, 2022

Yoon eyes plan to raise more unicorns

The government will provide funds to help startups grow into unicorns, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition team said Tuesday. Unicorns are privately-held startups worth at least $1 billion. In South Korea, they have long relied on foreign capital in their late-stage funding to raise their market value “This is part of broader efforts to nurture a new ecosystem for startups, where jobs are created and economic growth is guaranteed, all without interruption,” said K

April 26, 2022

S. Korea’s economy sees lackluster growth in Q1

South Korea’s economy expanded by a lackluster 0.7 percent in the first three months of this year, compared with the previous quarter, weighed down by the spread of the omicron variant and the risks stemming from the Ukraine crisis, central bank data showed Tuesday. Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s growth momentum nearly halved compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, when it saw a 1.2 percent expansion, preliminary data from the Bank of Korea showed. In terms of on-year growt

April 26, 2022

High-tech sector key to growth: transition team

Expanding the high-tech sector will be the way to ensure sustainable economic growth, and the government will ease rules to make that happen, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition team said Monday at a press briefing amid concerns over shrinking economic growth. “Building on the high-tech sector involves two things: We help the existing industries go high-tech or go green and digital, because that leads to better products,” said Ahn Cheol-soo, the chief leading the team.

April 25, 2022

Instant noodle exports jump 20% in March

South Korea's exports of instant noodles soared 20 percent on-year in March on the global popularity of Korean pop culture amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Monday. Asia's fourth-largest economy exported $71.58 million worth of instant noodles, or "ramyeon" in Korean, last month, up from $59.62 million a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. From the previous month, overseas shipments of ramyeon shot up 35.8 percent. March mar

April 25, 2022

Inflation in S. Korea 2nd highest in region: IMF

The International Monetary Fund said inflation in South Korea would hit 4 percent this year, second behind only New Zealand in a list of eight advanced economies in the Asia and Pacific region, in part because of the war in Ukraine. The projection was made public this month as Asia’s fourth-largest economy is seen as sliding into stagflation, a condition where rising inflation and shrinking economic growth coexist. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF forecast inflation of

April 24, 2022

S. Korea requests MSCI to put its stock market on watch list for developed market status

South Korea’s top economic policymaker has requested the global index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International to place the country’s stock market on the watch list for the developed market status during its review in June, his office said Saturday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks during his meeting with senior officials from MSCI in New York on Friday (local time) as South Korea is pushing again to win the MSCI developed market status. MSCI has classified the So

April 23, 2022

Finance minister expresses worries over rebound in home prices

SEJONG -- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki expressed worries over the nation’s real estate market during his stay in Washington, D.C. for international ministerial meetings, saying that home prices are rebounding. Hong said Friday (Korean time) that the government had failed to tame housing prices during the early part of his term since December 2018, when he took office, despite a variety of policy attempts. “(Later), I was encouraged by the situation that ho

April 22, 2022

Stock settlements nose-dive 32% in Q1 amid slumping market

The value of stock settlements in South Korea plunged nearly 32 percent in the first quarter of the year as the stock market remained in the doldrums, a local clearing house said Friday. The Korea Securities Depository (KSD) said stocks worth 1.85 trillion won ($1.49 billion) were settled through the agency per day in the January-March period, down 31.8 percent from a year earlier. Yet the first-quarter figure was up 4.6 percent from three months earlier. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Pric

April 22, 2022

Finance minister vows policy efforts to improve fiscal health

South Korea's top economic policymaker has said the government will continue to make policy efforts to strengthen fiscal soundness as the country's national debt has grown at a fast pace during the COVID-19 pandemic, his office said Friday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks during his meeting with Roberto Sifon-Arevalo, sovereign managing director of global credit appraiser S&P Global, in Washington D.C. on Thursday (local time). In the meeting, the two discussed South Korea's

April 22, 2022

Growth of land prices slows in Q1 amid tumbling trading

Land prices in South Korea rose at a slower clip in the first quarter of 2022 from three months earlier as transactions tanked, data showed Friday. Land prices in Asia's fourth-largest economy inched up 0.91 percent on-year in the January-March period, down from a 1.03 percent increase in the last quarter of 2021, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Korea Real Estate Board. It was a tad lower than the 0.96 percent on-year hike recorded during the same period

April 22, 2022

Sales of derivatives-tied securities drop in 2021

Sales of derivatives-linked securities in South Korea decreased in 2021 largely as investors shunned the risky investment tools amid the tightened regulations, data showed Friday. The combined value of equity-linked securities (ELS) and derivatives-linked securities (DLS) came to 84.7 trillion won ($72.1 billion) last year, down 4.3 trillion won from 2020, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The end-2021 figure marks the lowest since 2014, when the comparable numb

April 22, 2022

[Photo News] Moon's Last Appointment

President Moon Jae-in hands Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong a certificate of appointment as the chief of the nation’s central bank at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Thursday. Rhee, the former director of the Asia and Pacific department at the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, was nominated last month by Moon to succeed former BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol, whose term ended on March 31. The high-profile official nomination was Moon’s last before he leaves office on May 10. Rhee&rsquo

April 21, 2022

At G-20 meeting, Korea’s fiscal chief stays out of protest against Russia

SEJONG -- South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki kept his seat while other fiscal chiefs or central bank governors walked out of a G-20 meeting in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the ministry on Thursday.　 According to overseas news reports and remarks from British officials, top officials from the US, Canada and the UK left the G-20 finance ministerial meeting, held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday,&n

April 21, 2022