South Korea's central bank said Thursday it will reduce the number of rate-setting meetings to eight per year starting in 2017 as part of efforts to enhance the validity of its monetary policies.The decision came after Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol noted sometimes fewer were better."Central banks of major advanced countries are reducing their number of rate-setting meetings to eight per year and the main reason for this is that it is most desirable when a monetary policy is based on long-term g

South Korea's terms of trade continued to improve from a year earlier in November, but largely because import prices dropped at a faster clip than export prices, central bank data showed Thursday.The terms of trade index came to 100.83 last month, up 9.1 percent from the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The index gauges the amount of imports a country can purchase for each unit of exports, which shows how the country's exports are doing in comparison wit

South Korea's public sector debt rose to 957.3 trillion won ($815 billion) in 2014, or 64.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product, the government said Thursday.According to the finance ministry, the country's public sector debt, or D3 which takes into account both general government and non-financial corporation debt, and deducts internal transactions, rose by 58.6 trillion won from the year before. In 2013, the country's public sector debt stood at 898.7 trillion won, or 62.9 percent

The South Korean economy is expected to grow 3 percent in 2016 from this year on the back of increased corporate investment and a recovery in domestic demand, the state-run Korea Development Bank said Wednesday.In its latest economic outlook, the policy lender said that Asia's fourth-largest economy will likely "pull off a better performance next year than this year's 2.6-percent expansion as companies are expected to invest more and consumer spending should pick up."The forecast is rosier than

The number of new companies grew by double digits in 2014 as more people took advantage of steady economic growth to go into business, government data showed Wednesday.In 2014, some 843,000 new companies were created, up 94,000 or 12.6 percent, from the year before, Statistics Korea said.Employees working for these companies reached over 1.34 million, a gain of 12.2 percent from a year earlier.The rise follows Asia's fourth-largest economy growing at a stable 3.3 percent, which is much better th

South Korea on Wednesday began construction of a creative economic zone south of the nation's capital as part of efforts to promote the country's flagship economic policy.South Korea plans to invest 1.5 trillion won ($1.27 billion) in establishing the 430,000-square-meter Creative Economy Valley in Pangyo, south of Seoul, which aims to host 1,600 companies employing more than 100,000 people.The plan calls for creating a high-tech industrial park that will be linked to the nearby Pangyo Techno Va

South Korea's new housing permits jumped 27.7 percent on-year in November, government data showed Wednesday, a sign that the country's real estate market is continuing to make headway.The number of new home permits issued came to 62,823 last month, up from 49,181 a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.November marked the 11th consecutive month of an on-year increase, although the pace slowed from the 41.2 percent surge tallied for the previous month."The

South Korea will frontload 9.2 percent of next year's budget in the first quarter to help prop up economic growth, the government said Wednesday.The finance ministry said it made the decision as the effect of the 11.53 trillion won ($9.84 billion) extra budget will end this year and could cause a drying up of state funds reaching the market. The injection of money is also needed as the government will again mark up excise taxes levied on cars and large consumer appliances in the new year, which

Excess cash held by households and non-profit organizations here continued to dwindle in the third quarter due to a rise in demand for homes and a surge in home rental fees, central bank data showed Wednesday.Excess funds held by local households and non-profit organizations came to 20.2 trillion won ($17.24 billion) as of the end of September, compared with 24.9 trillion won three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.In the second quarter, the amount had slipped 4.7 trillion won from

The head of South Korea's central bank Wednesday ruled out the possibility of the recent U.S. rate hike immediately prompting his country to raise its own interest rate, saying that any change to the key rate depends on a number of factors."The United States' key rate is of course a very important factor to consider when deciding our key rate, but the Bank of Korea does not immediately raise its key rate simply because the U.S. does so," Lee Ju-yeol said in a monthly meeting with a group of econ

Foreign direct investment in South Korea surpassed the $15 billion mark this year for the first time ever, driven by a free trade pact with China and more favorable business conditions, the government said Wednesday.As of Tuesday, the amount of FDI that arrived in the country reached $15.19 billion, a surge of 28.6 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said. Total FDI pledged from Jan. 1 onwards also rose 11.2 percent on-year to $20.43 billion. "Both numbers rep

The South Korean economy is expected to grow 2.6 percent in 2016 from this year amid a prolonged slump in exports and weak consumer spending, a major private think tank said Tuesday.The forecast by the Korea Economic Research Institute is grimmer than the government's prediction of 3.1 percent and the Bank of Korea's 3.2 percent projection. In its latest economic outlook, the think tank said the local economy "is forecast to show an L-shaped trajectory by logging a mere 2.6-percent expansion fol