The Ministry of Strategy and Finance has announced plans to expand the country’s foreign investor program by awarding residential eligibility status to more foreign businesspeople investing in Korean funds.The ministry said Tuesday that it would boost its budget for the program to set up advisory centers at Incheon International Airport to promote and provide information to foreign investors regarding immigrant investment.The program, which was implemented in May, was part of efforts to boost Ko

Nov. 12, 2013

Korea’s securities industry saw its net profit decrease in the first half of this year due to lowered earnings from brokerages and proprietary trading, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service on Monday.The data showed that 62 securities companies’ net profit stood at 251.6 billion won ($235.7 million) in April-September for 2013, down about 63 percent from 674.5 billion won a year ago.Their profitability measured by return on equity stood at 0.6 percent, down 1 percentage point

Nov. 11, 2013

The majority of Koreans who took out “jeonse” loans for apartment deposits are middle class and under age 50, according to data from the Bank of Korea on Monday.The data showed that homeowners borrowed more than 60.1 trillion won ($56.3 billion) for jeonse payments in the first half of this year, double that of 2009.About 73 percent of such loans, or 44.1 trillion won, were taken out by those aged below 50 in the mid-income group, the BOK data noted.Jeonse loans to the top 20 percent accounted f

Nov. 11, 2013

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok further urged lawmakers to pass and legislate key economic bills and amendments at the National Assembly.In a meeting with lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party on Tuesday, Hyun and ruling party officials agreed to first move forward with 15 of the some 100 bills pending legislation at the National Assembly.Hyun said that the government has worked hard in devising a set of measures aimed at revitalizing the economy such as policies promotin

Nov. 5, 2013

The U.S. tapering of quantitative easing is expected to further increase Korea’s household borrowing costs and pose a systemic risk to the real economy due to an increase in interest rates worldwide, analysts warned.Korean households, whose outstanding debt reached some 1 quadrillion won early this year, will see their repayment burden rise due to higher interest rates in Korea once the Federal Reserve begins normalizing its monetary policy.The interest rate on 10-year treasuries is projected to

Nov. 4, 2013

Korea’s economic competitiveness is expected to be severely affected by an increasing number of workers moving from high value-added industries to low value-added ones, analysts at the Bank of Korea warned.Almost 53 percent of employees of high value-added sectors such as manufacturing and information technology moved into low value-added services industries over the last decade, according to a BOK report by a group of analysts.The figure, which compares 2003 and 2013 data, increased from turnov

Nov. 3, 2013

Korea is expected to face a conflict of interest with the U.S. over foreign exchange policies as the world’s largest economy has urged Asia’s fourth-largest economy to refrain from market intervention.The U.S. last week called for Korea to maintain a transparent foreign exchange market and reduce its reliance on exports amid the Korean government’s toughened stance against the won’s excessive gain against the dollar.The U.S. also said that it would “press” its Korean partners not to control the

Nov. 3, 2013

Korea’s stock market and local currency could retreat instead of rally after the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee set a firmer stance on its monetary stimulus, analysts and policymakers said.The benchmark KOSPI fell 1.43 percent to 2,030.09 on Thursday following overnight losses on Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Wednesday at 15,618.76, down 0.39 percent. The Korean won lost 0.5 won closing at 1060.7 won to the U.S. dollar, as demand for the greenback rose as foreign

Oct. 31, 2013

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said that Korea was able to achieve growth of 2.7 percent this year and will hit 3.9 percent next year as projected last June.In a state audit by the Strategy and Finance Committee of the National Assembly on Thursday, the finance minister said that the Korean economy was on a recovery path toward its projections, based on positive signs from various indices.“Industrial production, employment and exports showed significant quarterly pattern

Oct. 31, 2013

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok urged the private sector to increase investment and employment to put the economy on a stronger growth path amid lingering external uncertainties.In a meeting with economic-related ministers on Wednesday, the finance minister said that various economic indices show positive signs that the economy is recovering backed by brisk exports, revived construction investment and consumption.Korea recorded around 3 percent annual growth in the third

Oct. 30, 2013

Korea’s foreign exchange market opened Monday with the local currency slightly weakened against the U.S. dollar as forex officials continued to caution traders as a means to prevent the won from excessive gains.But won-dollar exchange rate closed 0.7 won lower at 1,061.10 won on Monday despite the government’s reaffirmed stance against a stronger won.Foreign capital inflow into Korea’s stock market kept the U.S. dollar weak against the won, while boosting the benchmark KOSPI by 0.68 percent to 2

Oct. 28, 2013

Almost two dozen infrastructure projects pursued by Korea’s central and regional governments and state-run enterprises risk wasting taxpayers’ money due to lack of economic feasibility.The National Assembly Budget Office’s data presented to the Strategy and Finance Committee showed that 23 ongoing infra projects carried out since 2003 fell well short of business potential measured by the standard evaluation method, or the so-called analytic hierarchy process. The data was based on studies by the

Oct. 27, 2013