When the 2008-09 subprime mortgage crisis hit the United States, a great volume of global equity funds flowed into the South Korean bond market amid the widened gap between interest rates of the two countries.But the current situation is reversing the trend as the rate gap has continued to narrow over the past few months, according to data from the Bank of Korea. The continued contraction stems mainly from the U.S.’ move to hike its benchmark rate and Korea’s expected monetary easing policy.Whil

‘The MOU underscores the economic cooperation of the civil enterprise and the farm industries, which will bring larger opportunities to the nation to export our produce.’

South Korea's top financial regulator said Monday that it will beef up the monitoring of the price movement of stocks related to the fast-spreading Middle East Respiratory Syndrome on the local equity market.  The country reported its sixth death from MERS earlier in the day, with the total number of people diagnosed with the disease here rising to 87.  The fatal illness has hit the stock market hard, dragging down shares of tourism-related companies, especially cosmetics firms and retailers, as

South Korea’s central bank is facing growing pressure to further cut the key interest rate upon concerns that the spread of the Middle East respiratory syndrome will drag down economic growth.As the escalating impact of the virus is weighing on the economy, the Bank of Korea may decide to stimulate the already sluggish domestic market by announcing an earlier-than-expected rate cut, according to observers. The bank is scheduled to hold its monthly monetary policy committee meeting on Thursday.“T

The South Korean finance minister called for fundamental reform in the financial industry in order to make the sector drive the country's economic development, according to the ministry on Saturday.“This is the time for financial reform that transforms the basis of South Korea's financial industry,” Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said in a meeting with Lord Mayor Allen Yarrow of City of London on Friday (local time). “The British economy has made a second take-off after carrying out the Big Ba

The nation’s seven major banks saw their housing-collateralized loans rapidly increase over the past two months amid the revitalized property market.Following the monthly growth of 6.8 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in housing-collateralized loans ― or loans for purchasing apartments ― in April following the March 12 key interest rate cut, commercial banks also reported a collective increase of more than 6 trillion won in May, their lending data showed Wednesday.The surge of more than 6 trillion wo

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday it has revised its outlook on Korea’s 2015 GDP growth down to 3 percent from its earlier projection of 3.8 percent.In its initial outlook a year back, the Paris-based organization forecast that Korea’s growth would reach 4.2 percent this year. Following the cut by 0.4 percentage point in November 2014, it has again lowered its outlook by 0.8 percentage point.In its June 3 report, the OECD also revised its projection for the

South Korea’s gasoline prices have been rising for 44 days amid rising oil prices and consumption, the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. said Wednesday. The nation’s average price of regular gasoline hit 1,572.40 won ($1.40) per liter on Tuesday, up 0.85 won from the previous day, according to Opinet, an online service provider of fuel prices run by KNOC. Market experts estimate that the price may reach a new record, replacing the Jan. 1 record, 1587.31 won.The average price of premium gasoline

The financial authority has decided to push for lifting or easing the barriers between subsidiaries of financial groups as part its efforts to seek product competitiveness on the global stage.During a meeting of nine financial group executives on Tuesday, Financial Services Commission chairman Yim Jong-yong vowed to ease the regulatory policies for freer business environment and diversification of financial products.“The financial group system has contributed to the quantitative growth of the fi

Household debt, though weighing heavy on growth, will not visibly impact systemic stability: Moody’s