Exports surge 17% in first 20 days of April

South Korea's exports rose 16.9 percent in the first 20 days of April from a year earlier on the back of demand for chips and petroleum products, customs data showed Thursday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $36.3 billion in the April 1-20 period, compared with $31 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports increased 25.5 percent on-year to $41.5 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $5.2 billion during the cited period, the data showed. By

April 21, 2022

Producer prices up for 3rd month in March as energy prices rise

South Korea's producer prices rose for the third straight month in March as high energy and raw material prices pushed up the costs of churning out factory goods, central bank data showed Thursday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 116.46 in March, up 1.3 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, the index also jumped 8.8 percent, which was faster than the previous month's 8.5 perce

April 21, 2022

[Newsmaker] S. Korea’s longest serving fiscal chief to retire amid mixed reviews

SEJONG -- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki spent his five-year term dealing with major economic tasks, from the pandemic-triggered market crisis to controversial real estate measures. However, assessments of Hong -- South Korea’s longest serving fiscal chief -- appear divided. Proponents say that the minister has been faithful to principles to boost the economy and weather a variety of barriers on the growth of the country’s gross domestic product. They also s

April 20, 2022

Non-pricing policy must for well-coordinated global climate change responses: Seoul's finance chief

South Korea's top economic policymaker has stressed the need to balance market mechanisms against non-pricing policy measures in coordinating global efforts to fight climate change, his office said Wednesday.Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks during an online meeting of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Actions held Tuesday."The proper combination of market mechanisms, such as an emissions trading system, and non-price policy support is a must in responding to climat

April 20, 2022

Wheat import prices hit over 13-year high in March

South Korea's wheat import prices soared to an over 13-year high in March on the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a global supply chain bottleneck, data showed Wednesday, exerting upward pressure on food prices here. The country's import prices of wheat amounted to $402 per ton last month, up 8.8 percent from the previous month and the highest level since December 2008, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. Compared with a year earlier, the per-ton

April 20, 2022

S. Korea ranks 2nd among OECD nations in R&D spending as portion of GDP: report

South Korea placed second in research and development (R&D) spending as a portion of its gross domestic product (GDP) among major developed countries in 2020, but its tepid growth in recent years calls for more policy support, a report said Wednesday. South Korea's R&D expenditures reached 93.1 trillion won ($75.4 billion) in 2020, accounting for 4.81 percent of GDP, according to a recent report by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the country's largest business lobby. That made

April 20, 2022

IMF slashes Korea’s growth forecast to 2.5%

SEJONG -- The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday predicted that the growth of the Korean economy would stay in the mid 2 percent range this year in the wake of the war between Ukraine and Russia, alongside the ongoing pandemic. In its latest world economic outlook report, the IMF revised down its forecast on the gross domestic product growth of Korea by 0.5 percentage point from its earlier suggestion of 3 percent to 2.5 percent. The figure is lower than the growth prediction of 2.7 percen

April 19, 2022

Central bank chief nominee hints additional rate hikes

South Korea’s central bank plans to give appropriate “signals” to quell inflationary pressure, the nominee for the Bank of Korea chief said Tuesday, confirming his stance for further rate hikes in months to come. Rhee Chang-yong, former director of the Asia and Pacific department at the International Monetary Fund, told lawmakers that the central bank will focus on placing a cap on the high inflationary pressure through “signals” at the moment, even if the move may

April 19, 2022

Number of food service employees rises amid economic recovery

The number of employees in the food service segment rose 1.2 percent on-year in October last year as the job market improved amid the economic recovery, data showed Tuesday. The number of people employed at restaurants and eateries reached 1.56 million last October, up 19,000 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. The tally slowed from an on-year increase of 65,000 six months earlier. But it marked an improvement from October 2020, when such workers fell by a record number of 179,00

April 19, 2022

Banks' foreign currency deposits down in March amid strong US dollar

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea fell in March as South Korean companies withdrew US dollars for their planned overseas investments and individuals sold their dollars for profit-taking, central bank data showed Tuesday. Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by banks in South Korea reached $92.71 billion as of end-March, down $5.43 billion from a month ago, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea (BOK). Foreign deposits include those held by foreigners who have s

April 19, 2022

Yoon vows economic plan to protect national interest

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that he would work to bring a stronger economy to protect South Korea’s national security interests once he takes office on May 10, at a roundtable with academics, industry leaders and former high-level government officials. “We will lay the groundwork for ‘economic security,’” Yoon said, referring to a strategy to deal with fallout from the unprecedented economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, at a

April 18, 2022

Transition team fine-tuning Yoon’s housing policy

SEJONG -- The first phase of real estate policy of the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration will be unveiled in an appropriate timing, said Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of the presidential transition team, on Monday. But the transition team said that the unveiling timing will be later than this week, suggesting that internal discussions were still underway. It also denied the rumors that the comprehensive housing policy will be publicized before lawmakers at the National Assembly. Spokespeopl

April 18, 2022

‘Seoul has full potential to become Asia’s next financial center’: deputy mayor

It was 2003, with South Korea still clinging to the euphoria of the 2002 World Cup, when the official road map to making Seoul Asia’s financial center was first announced. Hope was in the air and it quickly became a key task for current Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who previously served as the city’s mayor from 2006 to 2011. But the hurdles were too high. Global financial institutions were put off by Korea’s rigid labor market and tight, yet somewhat vague regulations, despite the geopo

April 18, 2022

Regulator to delay review of punitive actions against shippers for price fixing

South Korea's antitrust regulator plans to put off its review of punitive measures over shippers' alleged collusions to fix freight rates as some foreign players have faced difficulty in doing business amid COVID-19 lockdowns in China, industry officials said Monday. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating allegations that around 20 domestic and foreign shippers colluded to fix higher freight rates for the Korea-China and Korea-Japan sea routes since early 2000. The FTC was suppos

April 18, 2022

Discount vouchers to be offered for hotels, sport games

SEJONG -- Policymakers on Friday have unveiled a monthslong consumption campaign offering discount vouchers for the leisure and sports sectors, as the country eases social distancing and slowly returns to normal. At a meeting to monitor consumer prices and economic policies on Friday, Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said the government will provide households with discount vouchers that can be used when booking lodging facilities and buying tickets to watch professional sports leagues. He s

April 15, 2022

Inflationary pressure growing amid Ukraine war: finance ministry

The South Korean economy is on a recovery track on robust exports, but it faces growing inflationary pressure as the protracted war in Ukraine has jacked up energy prices, the finance ministry said Friday. External economic uncertainties have heightened as global price pressure has risen due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while major central banks are expected to accelerate monetary tightening, the ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called the Green Book. "The Sout

April 15, 2022

Foreigners to face tighter scrutiny in real estate deals

South Korea will step up checks on foreigners buying and selling homes here amid accusations that some of them deliberately evaded property taxes because of lax oversight, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition committee said Thursday. The team said once the Yoon government takes over on May 10, foreigners will have to report to authorities how many homes they have here, because multiple-home owners pay more taxes. Whether they have family members living with them here will be reporte

April 14, 2022

Foreign population to rise to 4.3% in 2040

SEJONG -- South Korea is projected to see the portion of foreign population increase by 1.2 percentage points to 4.3 percent by 2040, state demographic data showed Thursday. The data also forecast that the portion of Korean seniors, aged 65 or over, will far outstrip that of elderly foreigners residing in the nation in 2040, suggesting that local people are aging faster than foreign residents. According to Statistics Korea, the number of foreigners posted 1.6 million as of 2022, which accounte

April 14, 2022

BOK raises rate by quarter-percentage-point to quell inflation

South Korea’s central bank on Thursday raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.5 percent, with an official warning of growing inflationary pressure and slower-than-expected economic expansion. The Bank of Korea’s six-member monetary policy board unanimously voted to raise the base rate to 1.5 percent -- the highest level since July 2019 –- during a rate-setting meeting. It marks the central bank’s fourth pandemic-era rate hike, dating to Aug

April 14, 2022

S. Korea's tax revenue up in Feb. amid economic recovery

South Korea's tax revenue rose 1.4 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in February compared to a year earlier as the collection of income and corporate taxes increased amid the economic recovery, the finance ministry said Thursday. The government collected 20.3 trillion won in taxes in February, compared with 19 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The tally was lower than an on-year increase of 10.8 trillion won in January, when the government collected more

April 14, 2022