S. Korea to raise low-rate loan ceiling for Egypt to $1b

South Korea plans to raise the ceiling of its low-interest rate loans to Egypt to $1 billion in an effort to strengthen bilateral cooperation, the finance ministry said Friday. South Korea and Egypt have inked a memorandum of understanding to raise the limit of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) in 2022-26 from the previous $700 million for 2016-21, according to the ministry. The preliminary deal was clinched Thursday in Cairo on the sidelines of the summit between South Korean P

Jan. 21, 2022

2022 economy faces downside risks: finance minister

SEJONG -- The nation’s economy is heading toward uncertain territory due to a variety of factors at home and abroad which could restrict its growth, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Thursday. In a meeting for economic policies at the Government Complex Seoul, Hong cited three main factors-- quarantine, external factors and fiscal situation -- that may weigh on the growth of gross domestic product. He clarified that the government would push for main policies

Jan. 20, 2022

Residents' foreign currency deposits decline in December

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea declined in December as companies reduced foreign currency holdings for investment, central bank data showed Thursday. According to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK), outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents came to $97.27 billion as of end-December, down $5.75 billion from a month earlier. Residents include local citizens, foreigners staying here for more than six months and foreign companies. The data excludes i

Jan. 20, 2022

S. Korea expected to have more productivity growth potential from wider use of working from home: BOK report

South Korea has more room for improving productivity with a wider use of working from home, given its high internet connectivity and long commuting time caused by chronic traffic jams, a central bank report showed Thursday. According to the report by the Bank of Korea (BOK), the number of people using the working-from-home system soared to 1.14 million, 4.2 percent of those employed, last year, from about 95,000 people, or a mere 0.3 percent, tallied in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic brok

Jan. 20, 2022

Jobs in public sector grow by largest number in 2020

Jobs provided by the government and state-run companies grew by the largest-ever amount in 2020, as the number of public servants rose and state-arranged jobs for vulnerable people increased amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. A total of 2.77 million people were employed in 2020 by the public sector, up 164,000, or 6.3 percent, from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Jobs offered by the public sector are positions in central and provincial governments, social

Jan. 20, 2022

Number of layer chickens rebounds in Q4

The number of layer chickens raised in South Korea rebounded in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as it gradually recovered from the impact of the bird flu outbreak, data showed Thursday. The number of layer chickens came to 72.61 million in the October-December period, up 33,000 from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The tally compared with an on-year fall of 3.13 million in the third quarter. It was also up 1.89 million from three months earlier as chicken

Jan. 20, 2022

S. Korean investors' holdings of foreign securities hit new high in 2021

South Korean investors' holdings of foreign securities touched a new all-time high in 2021 on an overseas investment boom, data showed Thursday. Local investors had held overseas stocks and bonds worth $100.59 billion as of end-2021, up 39.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). Of the total, South Koreans' ownership of overseas stocks came to $77.91 billion, 65.5 percent more than a year earlier. The value of US stocks held by South Ko

Jan. 20, 2022

Producer prices nearly flat in December

South Korea's producer prices remained almost unchanged in December as an increase of prices in the service sector was offset by falling prices of manufactured goods, central bank data showed Thursday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 113.22 last month, compared with 113.23 the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It is the first time since October 2020 that the figure marked an on-month decline. Compared wit

Jan. 20, 2022

Number of fake banknotes hits record low in 2021 amid pandemic

The number of fake South Korean banknotes touched a record low in 2021 due largely to the coronavirus pandemic, the central bank said Wednesday. The number of counterfeit banknotes found in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 176 last year, down 96 from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the lowest tally since the BOK began releasing such data in 1998. The number of fake bills has renewed record lows for four years running. The drop was mainly due to a decline

Jan. 19, 2022

Housing prices to further stabilize on monetary tightening: finance minister

Housing prices are expected to further stabilize due largely to the central bank's rate hikes and the Federal Reserve's push for faster monetary tightening, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday. Hong also voiced concerns that home prices in some regions could show signs of unstable movements due to presidential election candidates' campaign pledges on large-scale development. "Housing prices have recently stabilized," Hong said at a government meeting on the housing market. H

Jan. 19, 2022

Staying in business for 5 years difficult for startups, self-employed: data

SEJONG -- A large portion of startups and the self-employed failed in less than five years while suffering from fears of possible financial insolvency due to heavy debt, data from Statistics Korea and credit rating firm NICE showed Tuesday. Their unstable status was found to have started years before COVID-19 hit the nation. According to Statistics Korea, the median individual startup stayed in business for just 2.6 years. The journal in which it was published conducted research on the operatio

Jan. 18, 2022

S. Korea's instant meals market skyrockets 145% over 4 years

The South Korean market of instant meals jumped more than 145 pct in 2020 from four years earlier on the increased number of convenience stores and the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Shipments of ready-to-eat items, known as home meal replacement (HMR) products in South Korea, came to 2.01 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in 2020, up a whopping 145.3 percent from 2016, according to the data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food T

Jan. 18, 2022

23 shippers fined W96.2b for collusion on freight rates

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has decided to impose a combined fine of 96.2 billion won ($80.7 million) on 23 Korean and foreign shippers for their 15-year-long collusion to fix freight rates. Since 2018, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has been looking into allegations that the country's top shipper, HMM Co., and 22 local and foreign shipping lines colluded to fix higher freight rates for Southeast Asian sea routes. The shippers -- 12 South Korean and 11 foreign -- collude

Jan. 18, 2022

ABS issuance down 22% in 2021

The issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) in South Korea shrank 22 percent on-year in 2021 due to declined sales of government-led mortgage securities, data showed Tuesday. The ABS issued last year were valued at 61.7 trillion won ($51.8 billion), down 17.4 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). ABS refer to securities based on such assets as mortgages, auto loans, credit-card receivables and student loans. The decline stemmed

Jan. 18, 2022

Finance Minister vows to raise accuracy in tax revenue

SEJONG -- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki has expressed his commitment to raising accuracy and transparency in generating figures on tax revenue, reiterating his apology for the government’s excess revenue beyond its earlier estimate. In his meeting with reporters on Monday, Hong said the Finance Ministry would “focus on raising transparency (in operation and forecast of tax revenue) as well as revising the calculating system.” If the coming calculation

Jan. 17, 2022

Number of self-employed falls by 18,000 in 2021

SEJONG -- The number of self-employed workers declined by 18,000 in South Korea last year, despite improvement in employment indices, state data showed Monday. Self-employed workers refers to non-salaried people who operate businesses without hiring employees or do so with several employees, mostly less than five. The country has a dominant portion of self-employed people engaging in sectors such as food service, lodging, wholesale and retail. According to Statistics Korea, the tally for self-

Jan. 17, 2022

Finance chief calls for stern actions against property-related tax evasion

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki called Monday for stern actions against tax evasion related to real estate deals as he renewed the government's commitment to stabilizing the housing market this year. Hong made the remarks during his meeting with the chiefs of the country's four major agencies under the finance ministry -- the National Tax Service (NTS), the Korea Customs Service, the Public Procurement Service, and Statistics Korea. "As this year is an important turning point in stabilizing

Jan. 17, 2022

Banks expected to pause in toughening household loan controls in Q1: survey

Banks in South Korea are expected to take a wait-and-see attitude in their lending policy during the first quarter after significantly toughening loan controls for months in line with the government's push to rein in household debt. According to the poll of 17 banks and other financial institutions by the Bank of Korea, the index measuring the banks' attitude toward home-backed and unsecured loans came to zero and minus six, respectively, for the January-March period. The figures were higher t

Jan. 17, 2022

40% of self-employed consider biz closure amid pandemic: survey

Four out of 10 self-employed people in South Korea are considering closing their businesses due to sluggish sales amid the long-enforced strict social distancing rules during the coronavirus pandemic, a survey showed Sunday. According to the survey of 500 people operating restaurants, retail and other service businesses by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a major business lobby group, 40.8 percent said that they are considering discontinuing their operations. Of them, 28.2 percent ci

Jan. 16, 2022

Extra budget of W14 trillion planned for microbusiness owners

SEJONG -- The Ministry of Economy and Finance has unveiled its policy to draw up a supplementary budget worth 14 trillion won ($11.7 billion), most of which will be used to support small business owners including the self-employed. Under constitutional government in Korea since 1948, this will mark the second time a supplementary budget bill has been submitted to the National Assembly in January. This first case was conducted in January 1951 during the inter-Korean War. In a news briefing at G

Jan. 14, 2022