South Korea's central bank held its key rate at a record low level on Friday, though it revised down its growth forecast for this year, citing the slowing economy.The Bank of Korea left the base rate at 1.25 percent for a seventh consecutive month in January, while it cut its forecast for gross domestic product this year to a growth of 2.5 percent, from 2.8 percent projected in October.  (123rf)The BOK's growth estimate is also lower than the government's forecast of a 2.6 percent growth release

More than half of non-trade barriers set by foreign countries against South Korea came from China, the Seoul government said Friday, stoking concerns about outbound shipments to Seoul's largest trading partner.Out of 49 non-tariff measures against South Korean goods, Beijing accounted for 26 as of October 2016, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea International Trade Association said.Technical barriers to trade) topped the list of non-tariff measures by China against South Ko

Following is the full text of the Bank of Korea's statement on its monetary policy decision for January. The central bank's monetary policy board decided Friday to hold the base rate steady at 1.25 percent for the month. (123rf)The Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea decided today to leave the Base Rate unchanged at 1.25% for the intermeeting period.Based on currently available information the Board considers that the trend of global economic recovery has expanded somewhat, led by the US

South Korea's central bank on Friday held its key rate steady for the seventh straight month as it remains cautious about financial stability amid slowing growth.The Bank of Korea maintained its policy rate at an all-time low of 1.25 percent in January after sending the rate to the lowest level to support the growth of Asia's fourth-biggest economy. (Yonhap)"As the inflationary pressures on the demand side are not expected to be high, given the moderate pace of domestic economic growth, the boar

South Korea and the United States held a follow-up meeting on the bilateral free trade pact amid rising concerns over renegotiations sparked by US President-elect Donald Trump, the trade ministry here said Friday.Deputy Trade Minister Lee In-ho and his US counterpart Michael Beeman convened the fourth round of talks under the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement joint committee in Seoul on Thursday to review the implementation of the accord and discuss pending trade issues between the two countries,

Kang Mi-ok received 2 million won ($1,700) from a rural county in central South Korea in August. The money was meant to promote the birth of a fourth baby.She is set to receive another 8 million won in installments by 2020 from Cheongyang County, South Chungcheong Province, to help her raise the baby. Kang Mi-ok holds her fourth baby as she talks with her husband at a cafe in Cheongyang, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, on Jan. 7, 2017. (Yonhap)"It's completely a bonanza," Kang said as she was car

One day before South Korea and China are scheduled to hold the first meeting of the free trade agreement joint committee, the trade minister here said Thursday that he is considering discussing about recent trade issues with China over Seoul’s decision to deploy a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile battery. “We will raise the relation between issues raised by Korean companies and the deployment of THAAD during the meeting of the Korea-China FTA joint

The cost of private education for children is heavily eroding what little is left of spendable family income, a challenge to government effort to revive the economy through consumption, statistics indicated Thursday.Official numbers from Statistics Korea said a city-dwelling family of two people or more on average spent 226,576 won ($189.38) a month on out-of-school education for children in the third quarter last year. This is a 6 percent increase compared to a much less 1 percent increase in d

The pace of food price inflation in South Korea ranked among the top in comparison to other member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as of November last year, statistics from the organization showed Thursday.The prices of foodstuffs and non-alcohol beverages in South Korea were up 4.5 percent from a year before, the third highest after Mexico's 4.9 percent and Japan's 4.7 percent, according to the OECD's tally. South Korea was second in October and first in Sept

South Korea’s number of jobless hit 1 million for the first time last year, with young job seekers suffering the most, the latest data from the national statistics bureau showed Wednesday.  The unemployment rate for last year was 3.7 percent, the highest since 2010, inching up 0.1 percentage point from the previous year, with the number of jobless reaching 1.01 million, Statistics Korea data showed. It was the first time the tally had exceeded 1 million since the statistics agency ad

South Korea’s exports surged 37.8 percent in the first 10 days of this month from a year earlier, according to the latest customs data released Wednesday.The country’s exports totaled $11.64 billion during the cited period, up from $8.46 billion recorded in the same period last year, mainly on the back of a sharp increase in outbound shipments of semiconductors and petroleum products.The data from the Korea Customs Service showed imports also soared 38.6 percent on-year to $12.3 billion over the

Applications for public rental housing were set to kick off Thursday, with 5,293 households nationwide to be provided the opportunity.Dubbed the “Happy House” plan, the move was one of the key pledges from disgraced President Park Geun-hye, who is currently facing an impeachment trial that could permanently remove her from office.The plan is aimed to help the young and newlyweds acquire housing in areas with high residential demands due to proximity to workplaces and educational infrastructure t

South Korea will inject a fresh 15 billion won ($12.5 million) worth of greenhouse gas emissions rights in the trading market this year as part of its efforts to encourage businesses to join the carbon trading system, the finance ministry here said Wednesday.A government panel chaired by Vice Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok approved some 800,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved by non-mandatory businesses, according to the finance ministry.The amount is valued at 15 billion wo

Sentiment of self-employed people on spending and income is lower than that of salaried employees, the central bank data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign that the self-employed are bearing the brunt of an economic slowdown.The composite consumer sentiment index on spending came to 103 in December, down from 106 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea data.Self-employed individuals' sentiment index on spending stood at 94 in December, down from 102 in September. In comparison, salarie

The local office of Britain's luxury brand Burberry recently marked down the price of some of its products to reflect the fallen value of the British pound, but only by a small margin compared with the currency's depreciation, fashion industry officials said Wednesday.Burberry Korea dropped the local price by an average 9 percent as the pound fell after Britain's decision to leave the European Union in June last year. Industry officials say the markdown, however, falls far short of the 17 percen