SEJONG -- South Korea plans to supply more homes to newlyweds and first-time homebuyers through public and private development projects, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday. About 92 percent of newlyweds and first-time homebuyers will be eligible to purchase housing units as the government plans to ease some rules for them, Hong said in a meeting with property-related ministers. Currently, the government requires public and private construction firms to sell a certain amount of new h

  The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that South Korea's economy will shrink 1.9 percent this year as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged exports and consumption. The IMF's latest forecast represented a slight upgrade from its previous prediction of 2.1 percent contraction in June. The IMF also painted a somewhat brighter picture of the global economy as advanced nations reopened their economies, although the pandemic has showed no signs of weakening. The global economy is expect

The Industrial Bank of Korea said Tuesday that it will help local small and medium-sized enterprises promote their products via online channels amid the prolonged market fallout of COVID-19. The state-run lender, in partnership with the Seoul Business Agency, will hold an online promotion campaign for a selected list of quality SME products. After receiving applications in May, the bank singled out 10 beneficiaries and created video advertisements that will be posted on IBK and SBA’s cha

Kids Note, an operator of a mobile platform for nursery schools and parents in South Korea, said Tuesday it was preparing to go public in 2022. As part of its initial steps for the planned initial public offering, the company has recently picked Daishin Securities as a lead underwriter. Founded in 2012, Kids Note runs a communication service between child care centers and parents. In 2015, it became an affiliate of mobile tech behemoth Kakao. Mimicking Kakao’s free-of-charge business mod

South Korea’s state-run trade insurance firm has failed to retrieve some 1.4 trillion won ($1.2 billion) so far spent to cover local exporters' losses in their deals with foreign companies, data showed Tuesday. The Korea Trade Insurance Corp. also known as K-Sure under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, mainly offers guarantees to banks that extend loans to Korean overseas developers that require large-scale and long-term financing and issue bonds to exporters. But it also offers

FSS chief denies Cheong Wa Dae‘s influence on watchdog‘s probe on Lime, Optimus scandal

South Korean shipbuilders are expected to win orders later this year to build liquefied national gas (LNG) ships in Africa, analysts said Tuesday. In the January-September period, local shipbuilders fell far short of achieving their annual order targets as the new coronavirus pandemic continued to affect the shipbuilding industry, according to their order data. Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering received $4.5 billion worth of orders in the first nine months, achieving 29 percent o

South Korean stocks turned lower late Tuesday morning, as investors went risk-averse over the local resurgence of the new coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 14.43 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,389.3 as of 11:20 a.m. The KOSPI fell back into negative terrain after opening a tad higher following the overnight Wall Street rally. Investor sentiment worsened as the country's new COVID-19 infections bounced back to the triple digits, stoking fears that the p

South Korean stocks ended their eight-session winning streak Tuesday, as investors went risk-averse over a resurgence of the new coronavirus. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 0.58 point, or 0.02 percent, to close at 2,403.15. Trading volume was moderate at about 715 million shares worth some 10 trillion won ($8.7 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 504 to 322. Foreigners bought a net 209 billion won, while instituti

Tens of trillions of won are floating around stock markets after last week's fierce competition for the subscription of Big Hit Entertainment, the management agency of K-pop superstar BTS, data showed Tuesday. Retail investors, including BTS fans, chipped in 58.4 trillion won ($50.8 billion) in the agency's two-day subscription from Oct. 5-6. Of that amount, about 26 trillion won stayed floating in cash management accounts (CMA) and investor deposits, according to the data from the Korea Finan

South Korea’s tax agency has returned over 300 billion won ($260.89 million) of corporate tax to overseas funds over last five years, after losing lawsuits related to tax returns.　 According to data compiled by the National Tax Service, NTS had a total of 14 administrative litigation cases regarding overseas funds and lost six cases between 2015 and 2019. The tax authority reimbursed a total of 314 billion won of tax receipts over the period, according to the reports submitted to ruling

For corporate tax increases, the nation ranks 3rd

South Korean banks' household loans continued to grow at a fast pace in September largely due to accelerated home-backed lending amid soaring home prices, central bank data showed Tuesday. Outstanding bank loans to local households came to 957.9 trillion won ($832.5 billion) as of end-September, up 9.6 trillion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It slowed from an all-time high of an 11.7 trillion-won gain in August but still marked the second-large

Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to South Korea shot up 43.6 percent in the third quarter of 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, as the manufacturing segment drew a massive investment commitment. Asia's No. 4 economy received $5.23 billion worth of FDI commitments over the July-September period, compared with $3.61 billion logged the previous year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. But in the first nine months of the year, the FDI pledges edged down 4.4

SEJONG -- South Korea plans to pursue balanced regional development under Korean-version New Deal projects that aim to boost growth of the coronavirus-hit economy, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Tuesday. In a policy meeting chaired by President Moon Jae-in, Hong said the central government will give local governments more leeway in implementing the projects. In July, South Korea said it will invest 160 trillion won ($137 billion) by 2025 under the bold stimulus package that will create 1.