South Korea’s coincident index -- that summarizes current economic conditions -- plunged to the lowest level in 21 years in May amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data from Statistics Korea showed Tuesday. The nation’s industrial output slipped 1.2 percent on-month as well, remaining in the negative terrain since January, when the outbreak of the virus here broke its gain throughout the fourth-quarter of last year. Investment in infrastructure dropped 5.9 percent in the same period. Th

Economy June 30, 2020

South Korea is expected to see an accelerated slowdown of its potential economic growth rate, with domestic and global economic structures facing radical transformation in the post-coronavirus era, the central bank said Monday. “Due to COVID-19, Korea’s potential growth rate faces a sharp decline, with changes in economic structures regarding labor, trade and industries coupled with sluggish input of factors linked to labor and capital,” the Bank of Korea said in its latest r

Economy June 29, 2020

NH Prime REIT said Sunday it has decided to invest in landmark buildings in New York, Paris and Helsinki to expand its portfolio. South Korean banking group NH Financial’s real estate investment trust affiliate plans to purchase beneficiary certificates of 195 Broadway, a 29-story building in New York City with luxury brand Gucci as a key tenant and Tour Eqho in Paris that has global accounting firm KPMG taking most of the floors. It will invest in securities of Finland-based OP Finan

Market June 28, 2020

South Korea’s consumer price inflation is projected to remain at around zero percent for the remainder of the year, the nation’s central bank said Thursday, citing pandemic risks dampening hopes for the initial goal of an annual 2 percent inflation rate. The annual consumer price inflation is expected to fall 0.1 percentage point on-year to 0.3 percent, weighed on by plummeting oil prices and a slowdown of the global economy following the outbreak of COVID-19, the Bank of Korea not

Economy June 25, 2020

South Korean banks are going through their biggest transformation since the postwar era in the face of rising online banks and the fast-changing consumer trend favoring non-contact services. With the growing preference for “untact” -- non-face-to-face contact -- the lenders have been closing many brick-and-mortar branches, while giving more authority to chief digital officers who were hired from outside. The combined number of physical branches of all commercial banks here stood

Market June 24, 2020

South Korea’s central bank said Tuesday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Kakao’s artificial intelligence solutions subsidiary and will adopt the technology for its business and policymaking. The partnership -- which came as part of the Bank of Korea’s mid- to long-term development plan, announced to commemorate its 70th anniversary this year -- marks the first time the central bank has cooperated on technology with a private firm. It has also built antic

Economy June 23, 2020

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on domestic banks this year, with lower interest rate margins and enhanced loan regulations. The key challenge, however, is not the tangible loss so far, but rather the forthcoming competition in the digital arena -- where conventional financial firms find themselves overrun by big tech rivals. Racing against the clock, the conventional financial industry is now scrambling to grab the digital initiative, in line with the ongoing deregulatory

Market June 22, 2020

Nearly two years ago, South Korean financial groups hurriedly launched special teams to pursue inter-Korean businesses on the back of a reconciliatory mood between Seoul and Pyongyang. But the mood quickly soured with the collapse of the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February last year. Now, with North Korea blowing up an inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong, the hostile mood has cast one of the darkest clouds yet o

Market June 21, 2020

South Korea’s overseas direct investment fell 15.3 percent on-year in the first three months of the year, weighed on by the coronavirus pandemic, with investments to China and Hong Kong having fallen the most, data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance showed Friday. Local companies invested a combined $12.6 billion in the cited period, compared with $14.9 billion reported for the same quarter last year. This year’s first quarter also marked the first time the figure turned int

Economy June 19, 2020

South Korea on Wednesday unveiled stricter regulations to curb rising housing prices, including tighter loan rules and an expanded range of areas that are subject to special restrictions. Through the Moon Jae-in administration’s 21st set of housing price regulations, the government expanded its special regulations and monitoring zone to most areas west of Seoul and to certain other key cities as well, it said in a briefing of related ministries. Cities adjacent to Seoul including Inch

Economy June 17, 2020

South Korea’s global competitiveness ranking climbed five spots this year, buoyed by improvement in government, business and infrastructure efficiencies amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to an annual global competitiveness report. The report by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development, which was released here by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy on Tuesday, showed that the nation ranked No. 23 out of 63 countries and saw the faste

Economy June 16, 2020

South Korea is seeking to launch negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement with Cambodia next month, hoping to increase its economic influence in Southeast Asia, according to top officials Monday. The announcement comes as Korea has been expanding its economic ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, amid predictions by experts that the novel coronavirus pandemic will likely accelerate rising trade protectionism, coupled with the diversification of global supply chains fro

Economy June 15, 2020

The Bank of Korea on Monday officially launched a legal team to help smooth the launch of a central bank digital currency and cryptocurrencies rolled out by central banks. The formation of the six-member panel -- comprising external legal experts, lawyers and BOK officials -- was a follow-up to the central bank’s announcement in April, when it said it would carry out a 22-month pilot program until December 2021 to examine how to operate a CBDC system. The BOK had maintained a luk

Economy June 15, 2020

Korean commercial banks had cut their yields on savings and checking accounts to near zero as of Sunday, in line with the central bank’s move to slash its policy rate to a record low of 0.5 percent last month to combat economic risks from the coronavirus pandemic. Major commercial banks Shinhan, KB Kookmin and NH Nonghyup have lowered their yields on one-year savings and checking accounts -- which are most popular among customers here -- to a range of 0.3 percent to 0.75 percent, in rec

Market June 14, 2020

US-based firms in several sectors are likely to face a prolonged struggle due to the pandemic, and are even at the risk of producing more zombie firms, a report by South Korea’s central bank said Sunday. “The United States government’s active support has helped resolve the liquidity crunch of US-based firms, but the financial indexes of sectors classified as consumer discretionary, industrial products and energy have been relatively weak compared to others,” the weekly

Economy June 14, 2020