‘BOK to hold rate this year due to mounting household debt, already low interest rate’

Local property magnates are staying away from investing heavily in the country's real estate as South Korea braces for an early presidential election and possible interest rate hikes, market watchers said Thursday."Big time investors are currently taking a cautious position ahead of changes, although they still have a keen interest in the realty industry," an analyst at a Seoul bank said.The US Federal Reserve raised the key interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.75 to 1 percent Wednes

Prices of agricultural, livestock and fisheries products in South Korea remain unstable as supply fails to keep up with demand, sources said Thursday.According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., prices of eggs and chickens have recently swung to an upturn after leveling off following imports of US and Australian eggs.A package of 30 eggs sold for an average of 7,277 won ($6.44) at local stores as of Wednesday, down from 7,826 won a month ago but more than 30 percent higher than usua

The US trade representative nominee has named South Korea as one of the leading countries enjoying trade surpluses with the US, adding to concern that the administration of President Donald Trump could seek to revise the free trade deal with Korea.The remark by Robert Lighthizer, made during his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, came after the US trade representative released its trade policy report earlier this month that highlighted negative effects of the Korea trade pact.US Trade Repre

With its trade relationships with China and the US increasingly strained, South Korea is stepping up efforts to diversify markets for its export goods.According to data from the Korea International Trade Association, China and the US accounted for 25.1 percent and 13.4 percent of the country’s outbound shipments last year, respectively.(123RF)This heavy reliance on the world’s two largest economies for exports has made Korea’s position more vulnerable to China’s retaliatory steps against Seoul’s

South Korea posted a trade surplus for 61 straight months in February on a sharp upturn in outbound shipments, customs data showed Wednesday.The country's trade surplus came to $7.06 billion last month, up sharply from a surplus of $2.79 billion tallied a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.It enjoyed a $5.82 billion in trade surplus with Southeast Asian countries, followed by China with a surplus of $4.54 billion.But trade with Middle East nations and Japan recor

Even though some observers foresee a renegotiation of the South Korea-US free trade agreement, which went into effect five years ago today, experts here and in the US said the bilateral deal has benefitted both countries, perhaps even more so the US.After almost six years of bumpy negotiations, the South Korea-US FTA, also known as the KORUS FTA, went into effect on March 15, 2012. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday the KORUS FTA has proven to be a win-win deal by cushioning

The Bank of Korea has come under fire for an error in its statistics on household loans extended by savings banks at a critical time when mounting household debt is cited as a major risk to the economy. On Thursday morning, the central bank released an embargoed report to the media that said household debt at savings banks increased by 977.5 billion won ($852.5 million) in January from the previous month. The number was considered extraordinarily large because the monthly growth figure has usual

Many US exporters and importers believe the free trade agreement between South Korea and the United States not only helped keep their business growing but also improved their products and services, a report showed Tuesday.In recent interviews with the US office of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, most of the 28 American importers and exporters interviewed said the Korea-US FTA helped their businesses in more than one way.For 18 importers interviewed, the bilateral free trade pact hel

South Korea's trade with the United States has grown an average of 1.7 percent per year for the past five years on the back of the bilateral free trade pact despite a downturn in world trade, government data showed Tuesday.Korea-US trade reached $109.7 billion last year, up from $100.8 billion in 2011, one year before the Seoul-Washington free trade agreement took effect, according to the data by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Over the same period, world trade retreated an annual 3.5

South Korea sold more than $7 billion worth of consumer goods to China last year, a report showed Tuesday, amid growing concerns that this sector will suffer the most from a trade spat between the two countries over the deployment of an advanced US anti-missile system. The outbound shipments of consumer products reached $7.02 billion as of end-2016, accounting for about 11 percent of all consumer goods sold abroad last year, according to the latest report by the Korea International Trade Associa

South Korea's export prices fell 1.6 percent in February from a month earlier due mainly to the strengthening won, central bank data showed Tuesday.The dollar fell 3.4 percent to 1,144.92 won in February compared to a month earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.For exporters, the won's gain means decreased income as dollar-denominated earnings from their overseas businesses fall in value when repatriated into the local currency.Import prices also declined 2.2 percent last month from the

South Korea’s small and mid-sized businesses in some industries are heavily dependent on China for their exports, and are continuing to suffer from Beijing’s trade retaliation for Seoul’s hosting of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system.Exports by small businesses to China reached $22.5 billion last year, up 1.9 percent from the previous year, according to the Korea Customs Service and the Small and Medium Business Administration.While industries exporting parts and materials to

South Korea’s financial officials are worried that China will refuse to extend a bilateral currency swap deal set to expire in October, in yet another retaliatory move against Seoul’s hosting of a US missile defense system.The Seoul-Beijing swap line worth $56 billion accounts for nearly half of the total amount of Korea’s currency arrangements with other countries.A Seoul bank employee handles Chinese currency (Yonhap file photo)Officials here say Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho will call for separa

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Monday he will never let his guard down and take firm action against any possible changes in the real economy and the financial market in the aftermath of the country's leadership vacancy."The government will keep operating in emergency mode and deal firmly with pending issues," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho told reporters in Sejong. "We have been monitoring the market around the clock for months, and nothing has been unusual." Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho