South Korea's business sentiment edged up for February but remained below par for the second consecutive month amid high raw material prices and global supply chain disruptions, a poll showed Wednesday. The business survey index (BSI) of the country's top 600 companies by sales came to 99.7 for next month, up 3.2 points from January, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said. Yet February represents the second month in a row that the monthly yardstick of business sentiment has been below

South Korea's consumer sentiment improved in January as health authorities' tough antivirus rules mitigated worries over the spread of the coronavirus, the central bank said Wednesday. The composite consumer sentiment index (CCSI) came to 104.4 in January, up 0.6 point from the previous month, according to data from the Bank of Korea. The rise followed a 3.8 point on-month decline tallied in December. A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists. The rise is ascribed to health aut

Korea‘s economic recovery from pandemic crisis fastest among G-20 nations, says fiscal chief

The number of South Koreans who moved to different residences in the country declined by the most in nine years last year amid fewer housing transactions, data showed Tuesday. The number of people who changed their residences fell 6.7 percent on-year to 7.21 million in 2021, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the sharpest on-year fall since 2012, when population mobility declined 7.6 percent. The decline was mainly blamed on the base effect as people's mobility shot

South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo will visit the United States from this week to discuss bilateral cooperation on global supply chains and other trade issues, the ministry said Tuesday. During his weeklong visit from Tuesday (US time), Yeo will meet his US counterpart Katherine Tai, lawmakers and governors to bolster economic ties between the countries. Yeo is scheduled to hold talks with Tai on Thursday to exchange views on the 10-year-old bilateral free trade agreement, the US-led Indo

South Korea said Tuesday it will seek to provide low-rate loans up to 11.4 trillion won ($9.5 billion) to emerging countries for their projects by 2024. The government plans to set the yearly approval ceiling of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) at 3.6 trillion won this year, and raise it to 3.8 trillion won next year and 4 trillion won in 2024, according to the finance ministry. The government also plans to set the implementation goal of the EDCF at 4.5 trillion won over the ne

South Korea's economy posted the highest growth rate in 11 years as consumption and exports bounced back from the pandemic-caused slump, central bank data showed Tuesday. The gross domestic product is estimated to have grown 4 percent in 2021, marking a turnaround from a year earlier when the economy contracted 0.9 percent, the worst performance since 1998, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The 2021 growth rate marked the highest tally since 2010, when the economy expanded 6.

Corporate direct financing by firms in South Korea jumped 19 percent on-year in 2021 driven by multiple massive initial public offerings (IPOs), data showed Tuesday. Local companies raised a combined 231.48 trillion won ($194 billion) by selling stocks and bonds last year, up 37 trillion won from the previous year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Direct financing refers to raising funds directly from the stock and bond markets without borrowing from banks and othe

SEJONG -- Consumer prices of groceries and transportation in Korea climbed fastest in a decade in 2021, which have posed aggravated burden on households amid the pandemic, state data showed Monday. These two items were found to have led the instability in overall consumer prices last year, despite the Bank of Korea’s interest rate hikes twice in August and November. According to Statistics Korea, consumer prices of groceries rose 5.9 percent in 2021, compared to the previous year -- 6.2

Curbs on business operation hours have resulted in the biggest shrinkage in the "consumption of in-person services" among various antivirus measures introduced to combat the coronavirus pandemic, an internal central bank report showed Monday. The report suggests that easing a curfew on business operations while imposing a stricter ceiling on the number of people at private gatherings could be more conducive to consumption than the current measures at a time when the government has bee

South Korea's public institutions plan to hire more than 26,000 new regular workers this year in an effort to help buttress job creation, the finance minster said Monday. The move is aimed at meeting growing demand in the public service sector, including public health, safety and New Deal policy initiatives, according to Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki. He said the public firms also plan to hire around 22,000 interns to help them build work experience. "The government will spare no effort t

South Korean exports of red pepper paste soared nearly 63 percent in the past four years thanks to the global popularity of Korean pop culture, data showed Sunday. Overseas shipments of red pepper paste, called "gochujang" in Korean, came to $50.93 million in 2020, up 62.6 percent compared with 2016 and 35.2 percent from 2019, according to the data from Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. and the agriculture ministry. Exports of red pepper paste seem to have soared in recent

South Korea plans to increase the supply of beef and pork by around 50 percent on-year ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to help stabilize consumer prices, a senior government official said Friday. The government plans to increase the supply of beef and pork, key foodstuff needed to prepare for holiday meals, to 18,700 tons and 67,200 tons, respectively, according to Vice First Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon. South Korea began providing a record amount of 204,000 tons of holiday-

Korea’s per capita national debt to reach record-high of W20.8 mil

South Korea's exports grew 22 percent on-year in the first 20 days of January on the back of solid demand for chips and petroleum products, customs data showed Friday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $34.4 billion in the Jan. 1-20 period, compared with $28.22 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. (Yonhap)