The Korea Herald

New home permits plunge 45% on-year in Sept.

Oct 30, 2016

The number of construction permits issued for new homes has been nearly halved from a year earlier in September, also marking a third consecutive month of on-year drop, the government said Sunday.Construction permits issued for new homes came to 48,024 last month, down 45.4 percent from 87,955 issued in the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The ministry attributed the drop to a base effect, noting home construction permits had more than doubled
Korea's biz sentiment sinks to 3-month low for Nov.

Oct 28, 2016

South Korean firms' business sentiment for the upcoming month worsened from a month earlier with a majority of local companies expecting a continued slump in demand both at home and abroad, a survey showed Friday.The business survey index for November came to 89.8, compared with 96 registered for this month, according to the Federation of Korean Industries.The monthly index is based on a survey of the 600 largest companies here. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists.The readin
Korea's manufacturing sentiment to worsen next month

Oct 28, 2016

South Korean manufacturers' business sentiment will slightly worsen next month as they expect a decline in domestic demand and exports, central bank data showed Friday.The business survey index of manufacturing firms came to 72 in November, down from 75 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists, while a reading below the benchmark means the opposite.An index measuring local firms' sentiments toward exports came to 82 for November, do
Korea, China, Japan to hold trade ministers' talks later this week

Oct 28, 2016

Trade ministers of South Korea, China and Japan will have a meeting later this week to exchange views on ways to expand trade and investment between the Northeast Asian neighbors, including efforts on a three-way free trade deal, the Seoul government said Friday.The trilateral economic and trade ministers' meeting will take place in Tokyo on Saturday, led by South Korea's Joo Hyung-hwan and his Chinese and Japanese counterparts Hiroshige Seko and Gao Hucheng, respectively, according to the Minis
Gov't to raise price of natural gas by 6.1%

Oct 28, 2016

The price of natural gas will be raised an average 6.1 percent from next month to reflect a recent hike in import prices, the government said Friday.The price of gas for heating and cooking at households will be lifted by 5.6 percent, with that of natural gas consumed by the industrial sector to be hiked by 6.9 percent, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The price increase will be effective on Nov. 1. The ministry said it raised the gas rate for the first time in 14 months a
[Graphic News] Top 10 earners control 45% of total income

Oct 27, 2016

The top 10 percent of South Korea’s highest income earners account for 44.9 percent of the country’s total income as of 2012, according to data from the International Monetary Fund and The World Wealth and Income Database. This makes South Korea the No. 2 country among major economies in terms of income inequality, only after the US, where the top 10 percent of income earners make up 47.8 percent of the country’s total income. South Korea’s income equality is worsening rapidly. It jumped 15.6 pe
Credit card spending jumps 7.7% on consumer price hikes

Oct 27, 2016

South Korea's credit card spending increased 7.7 percent on-year in September, as the prices of agricultural products rose due to an unusual heat wave, data showed Thursday.South Koreans usually spend more before and during the Chuseok holiday, one of the largest annual celebrations. Chuseok, the equivalent of Thanksgiving Day in the U., fell on Sept. 15 this year.This year, especially, a record hot spell drove up the prices of agricultural, livestock and fishery products. The nation's consumer
Korea to unveil measures to cool down property boom next week

Oct 27, 2016

The South Korean government said Thursday it will announce a set of measures to cool down the country's real estate boom next week amid concerns over mounting household credits.At a ministerial-level meeting in Seoul chaired by Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, the country's economic policymakers discussed pending issues, including an overheating in the local property market and the ongoing corporate restructuring of the shipbuilding and shipping industries.They decided to announce the government's co
[Graphic News] South Korea ranks 5th in business environment

Oct 26, 2016

South Korea came in at No. 5 in business environment among 190 countries this year, driven by high scores in electricity supply and other legal, administrative and taxation systems, a report by the World Bank showed Wednesday. It marked a notch down from last year.The annual “Doing Business 2017” report gave South Korea a total 84.07 points. The country moved up in the ratings in terms of legal settlement, environment for starting a business, tax payment and property registration. Its rankings,
KOTRA head vows to help revive exports despite dim outlook

Oct 26, 2016

Despite a gloomy export outlook, the head of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency vowed his agency would devote itself to help revive declining exports in the last quarter of the year. “We will put forward our best efforts to help revive exports,” Kim said during a press conference held in Seoul. But he remained skeptical about the outlook for the rest of the year. “It is unlikely that exports in the rest of the year will buck the prolonged losing trend,”
Labor policy fails to ease job mismatch

Oct 26, 2016

The government-proposed budget for next year has set aside 17.5 trillion won ($15.4 billion), up 10.7 percent from this year, to finance programs designed to create jobs.In her parliamentary speech Monday, President Park Geun-hye described the 2017 spending plan as a job-creating one.Since its installment in February 2013, Park’s administration has put the focus of labor market policy on helping more people into employment. Over the past few years, Korea has seen its overall employment rate edge
Korea's debt ratio not that low, given population aging: report

Oct 26, 2016

South Korea's national debt ratio remains lower than advanced nations' ratios, but it is not that low when its aging population and income level are taken into account, a report said Wednesday.The National Assembly Budget Office said in the report that Seoul thus needs to step up efforts to bolster its fiscal soundness as its national debt has been rising at a much faster clip in the 2010s than countries in Southern Europe that suffered a debt crisis.According to the report, South Korea's ratio
BOK chief calls for consistent corporate restructuring

Oct 26, 2016

The head of South Korea's central bank called Wednesday for consistent corporate restructuring in financially troubled industries to help put them back on track."The government should consistently push forward restructuring in close consultation with subjected industries according to market rules," Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol said in a meeting with several economists at the bank's headquarters in central Seoul. Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol speaks during a meeting with economists in
Consumer sentiment rises to 10-month high in October

Oct 26, 2016

The overall sentiment of South Korean consumers hit a 10-month high this month, though their business outlook has slightly worsened, central bank data showed Wednesday.The composite consumer sentiment index for October came to 101.9, compared with 101.7 the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. The figure marks the highest since December 2015 when the index stood at 102.4.A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists.A separate index gauging the people's sentim
Korea stuck in low growth trap

Oct 25, 2016

Quarterly GDP growth remains under 1% for four consecutive quarters