SEJONG -- South Korea’s monthly decline in population reached the record-high of more than 8,000 in November, with the demographic tally losing by more than 40,000 for the first 11 months of 2021, state data showed Wednesday. This suggests that government policies to promote marriages and births have lacked efficacy in terms of easing worries over the so-called demographic cliff. According to Statistics Korea, the number of births stayed at 19,800 in November. This marked the second-lowe

Economy Jan. 26, 2022

SEJONG -- South Korea’s chief economic policymaker on Tuesday has confirmed the government’s intention to come up with measures to win developed market status from Morgan Stanley Capital International. The government has pushed for continuous attempts to campaign for Korea’s capital market -- such as stock and foreign exchange markets -- to be included in MSCI’s Developed Markets Indexes. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki commented on investors&rsquo

Market Jan. 25, 2022

SEJONG -- Consumer prices of groceries and transportation in Korea climbed fastest in a decade in 2021, which have posed aggravated burden on households amid the pandemic, state data showed Monday. These two items were found to have led the instability in overall consumer prices last year, despite the Bank of Korea’s interest rate hikes twice in August and November. According to Statistics Korea, consumer prices of groceries rose 5.9 percent in 2021, compared to the previous year -- 6.2

Economy Jan. 24, 2022

SEJONG – South Korea’s national debt and the national debt per capita will likely reach an all-time high of 1,075.7 trillion won ($901.6 billion) and 20.83 million won, respectively, in the wake of the recent extra budget fostered by the government, with planned state funds aggravating the fiscal deficit. The fiscal deficit from the supplementary budget will be widened to 68.1 trillion won, compared to the government’s earlier estimate of 54.1 trillion won under the 2022 regul

Economy Jan. 21, 2022

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

Economy Jan. 20, 2022

SEJONG -- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki raised the possibility that the housing market could be swayed by pledges of presidential candidates, and suggested he would try to block any speculative actions in particular regions via close monitoring. During a meeting of ministers in charge of real estate policies on Wednesday, Hong said there are symptoms that “home prices in some regions have been affected by pledges over large-scale development during the presidentia

Market Jan. 19, 2022

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

Economy Jan. 18, 2022

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

Economy Jan. 17, 2022

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-

Economy Jan. 17, 2022

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

Economy Jan. 14, 2022

SEJONG -- South Korea was found to have lagged far behind major countries in the latest economic growth, data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showed Thursday. According to the French-based organization, Korea’s gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent -- as a provisional figure -- in the third quarter of 2021, compared to the previous quarter. This placed Asia’s fourth largest-economy at No. 32 of the total 38 OECD members in the quarterly GDP growth,

Economy Jan. 13, 2022

SEJONG -- The number of employed people increased the most in seven years in 2021 on the back of the base effect after the coronavirus pandemic dealt a severe blow to the hiring market in 2020, state data showed Wednesday. But the number of jobs in sectors such as wholesale-retail and food service-lodging continued to decline last year, following the previous year. About 516,000 jobs disappeared in these four sectors during the period of 2020-2021. According to Statistics Korea, the number of

Economy Jan. 12, 2022

SEJONG -- South Korea’s brisk export performance, which started in the fourth quarter of 2020 as a rebound or recovery, has continued during the first 10 days of 2022, state customs data showed Tuesday. According to the Korea Customs Service, the nation’s exports reached $13.9 billion during the period of Jan. 1-10, up 24.4 percent compared to $11.2 billion over the same period of 2021. By main item, outbound shipments of home appliances -- such as TVs, refrigerators, washing machi

Economy Jan. 11, 2022

SEJONG -- South Korea has surpassed the average of members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in gross domestic product per capita, for the first time, data showed Monday. According to the French-based organization, Korea ranked 18th among the 38 members in GDP per capita with $45,363 in 2020. This exceeded the estimate of the OECD average at $45,182, while the nation had continued to stay under the average for decades. Figures for Korea and the OECD average were $18,

Economy Jan. 10, 2022

SEJONG -- South Korea ranked second among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the ratio of property tax to gross domestic product in 2020, with its on-year growth posting No. 1 and ranking in terms of the ratio climbing by four notches from a year earlier. According to a recent analysis by the Paris-based organization, Korea recorded 3.97 percent in the ratio of property tax -- in which the capital gains tax on trading of homes and land takes up a dominant po

Economy Jan. 7, 2022