Increasingly pressed to play a more active role in the coronavirus-hit financial market, South Korea’s central bank is considering exceptional measures to provide liquidity, such as purchasing corporate bonds and corporate bills. The Bank of Korea is slated to hold its decision-making Monetary Policy Board meeting Thursday to review the necessity of base rate adjustments and other key monetary actions, officials said. Despite the prolonged economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic an

South Korea is likely to post negative economic growth this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, data showed Sunday. The average estimate of the nation’s gross domestic product growth for this year recently came to negative 0.9 percent, drastically down from the previous suggestion of around 2 percent. The forecasts were tallied from 11 global financial services firms, including Standard Chartered, UBS, Morgan Stanley, Nomura Holdings and Credit Suisse. The plunge is attributed

South Korea’s listed companies are likely to post poor earnings results for the first quarter due to the escalating fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic, a financial market tracker said Sunday. The combined operating profits of 141 listed companies are expected to mark 16.79 trillion won ($13.6 billion) in the January-March period this year, down 20.22 trillion won, or 16.92 percent, from a year ago, according to data compiled by FN Guide. If the projection turns out to be roughl

Under the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, major economies around the world have seen a visible decrease in cash transactions and an equivalent rise in online payments, data showed Sunday. According to a report issued by the Bank of Korea, major e-commercial platforms here saw their sales climb in the January-February period this year. Asia’s fourth-largest economy reported its first confirmed case of the new coronavirus on Jan. 20 and faced a rapid rise of patients in mid-Feb

SEJONG -- Over the past one or two months, many online commenters have raised the possibility that COVID-19 would pull down apartment prices in Seoul, pointing out that the Moon Jae-in administration had failed to do so. Some likened the current situation to a decade ago, when the real estate market was hit by the 2008 global financial crisis after continuing to spiral in the mid-2000s. Recent trading data showed that Seoul apartment prices stopped their 10-month continuous increase in the fi

South Korean stocks closed nearly flat Friday as a recovery in global oil prices boosted investor sentiment against the new coronavirus pandemic. The local currency dropped against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 0.58 point, or 0.03 percent, to close at 1,725.44. Trading volume was high at some 986 million shares worth a little over 1 trillion won ($811 million), with gainers outnumbering losers 506 to 328. The index got off to

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves last month posted the sharpest drop in over a decade due to the government’s intervention in the foreign exchange market and the strengthened US dollar value, the central bank said Friday. As of the end of March, the nation’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $400.21 billion, down $8.96 billion from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. It fell by the largest margin since November in 2008 when the global financial crisis wa

Government to provide W1m to bottom 70 percent by income, prompts criticism by alienating foreigners in the benefits

More online food orders means more loan relief

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday slashed its outlook for South Korea's economic growth for 2020 by 1 percentage point to 1.3 percent amid the new coronavirus pandemic. The ADB's latest downward revision hovers far below the 2020 growth outlook suggested by the Bank of Korea, which expects Asia's No. 4 economy to expand 2.1 percent this year, with a possibility of a further cut. The Manila-based lender had slashed South Korea's growth outlook by 0.1 percentage point in December. The

South Korea said Friday it will supply around 10 tons of filters to mask producers to boost production of protective masks, which are in short supply due to the coronavirus pandemic. The filters, which will be enough to make at least 7 million protective masks, will be sent to 14 local mask producers, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea has imported 4.5 tons of filters, while another 5.7 tons have been produced by Toray Advanced Materials Korea Inc., an affilia

S&P Global Ratings on Thursday placed Hyundai Motor Group on its watchlist of firms with a negative outlook, citing the impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on the global automobile industry. "The COVID-19 pandemic is causing production suspensions and weakening demand in the global auto industry, which was already facing slowing demand in 2019," S&P said in a report as it placed the South Korean auto giant on "CreditWatch with negative implications," hinting its r

A bond deal by South Korea’s biggest airline showed that while carriers pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic can still sell debt, they will need to pay a steep price. The fee Korean Air Lines paid underwriters to issue won notes jumped to a record 1.157percent, four times what it was charged in a similar deal in September. And an unusually numerous 15 sales managers took part in the offering this week of 600 billion won ($490 million) of debt backed by sales of future passenger tickets, a

BOK supplies W5.2tr in first round of ‘unlimited’ repo operations bid

The volume of proposed mergers and acquisitions in South Korea has shrunk to about half in the first quarter of 2020, reflecting the impact of the novel coronavirus, data showed Thursday. The first quarter saw 5.23 trillion won ($4.22 billion) worth of deals announced, falling 50.6 percent on-year, according to a league table by news outlet thebell. This comes as the coronavirus pandemic is causing delays in reaching agreements between parties due to market uncertainties. Major deals annou