South Korea's government debt level is not high enough to negatively affect its sovereign ratings in the near future, the global credit appraiser S&P Global Ratings said Thursday. Kim Eng Tan, senior director at S&P, said Korea's debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to reach slightly more than 40 percent by the end of next year, lower than the 50 percent estimate by the Korean government. "l just state very clearly that I don't think the Korean government ratings will be negatively affec

Foreign investors purchased a net of about $2.52 billion worth of shares on South Korea's stock market in November as they picked up chips and other related tech shares, central bank data showed Thursday. That marked a turnaround from the previous month's net selling of local stocks by foreign investors valued at $2.65 billion, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. The net purchase was mostly driven by increased investment in chipmakers and related tech firms amid expectations their ov

South Korea's central bank said Thursday that it will adjust the extent of its loose monetary policy stance "appropriately" in consideration of inflation, the pandemic and monetary policy directions of major economies. In a monetary policy report to lawmakers, the Bank of Korea (BOK) cited uncertainty linked to global supply disruptions, the resurgence of the coronavirus and the emergence of the omicron COVID-19 variant as major risk factors that could weigh on the economy. "As

Bond issuance in South Korea inched down in November from the previous month amid rising interest rates, data showed Thursday. The value of bonds sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 65.8 trillion won ($56.1 billion) last month, down 200 billion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. Last month's decrease compares with an 8.4 trillion won on-month jump recorded in October. Sales of financial bonds declined by 2.5 trillion won

South Korea's internet banking services continued to grow in the first half of the year, with the number of users and daily transactions rising to new highs, central bank data showed. The number of internet banking users, including mobile banking, came to 186.5 million as of end-June, up 5.6 percent from six months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. The figure is the simple sum of all registered users of 18 internet and mobile banking service providers in the country, meani

South Korea's tax revenue fell 6.2 trillion won ($5.3 billion) in October from a year earlier as the government delayed the payment of some taxes by small merchants and firms hit by the pandemic, the finance ministry said Thursday. The government collected 32.9 trillion won in taxes in October, compared with 39.1 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Tax revenue increased every month between January and September from a year earlier as corporate tax inc

South Korean banks' loans to households grew at a slower pace in November amid the government's stepped-up control on home-backed loans and other lending, central bank data showed Wednesday. According to the data from the Bank of Korea, banks' household loans stood at 1,060.9 trillion won ($901.2 billion) as of end-November, up 3 trillion won from a month earlier. The on-month growth decelerated from a 5.2 trillion won growth in October. Of household loans, mortgage loans grew 2.4 trillion wo

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Wednesday the 2022 economic policy will be focused on supporting pandemic-hit small merchants and helping the country's economy pull off a full recovery. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks at a meeting with heads of major economic institutes and experts from investment banks over the government's economic policy for next year. "Next year, we should make efforts to help the Korean economy pull off a complete recovery and put it on an u

South Korea has asked for Russia's cooperation to ensure the stable supply of urea, grain and other major items amid Russia's export quotas, Seoul's finance ministry said Wednesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the request Tuesday during a virtual South Korea-Russia joint committee meeting on the economy, science and technology with Yury Trutnev, Russia's deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District. During the video conference, Hong asked for the smoot

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Wednesday housing prices have markedly stabilized on the back of housing supply measures, the central bank's rate hike and tougher rules on household loans. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said prices of apartments in some areas of Seoul have stabilized to a level before possible decline. "The government will make efforts to help housing prices further stabilize by increasing home supplies in a way that exceeds the market's expectations and by acti

Corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by big South Korean firms rose sharply in the first nine months of this year as they revved up efforts to find new growth engines, data showed Wednesday. The country's top 500 companies spent a combined 28.8 trillion won ($24.4 billion) on M&As in the January-September period, more than double last year's spending of 12.6 trillion won, according to the data from corporate tracker CEO Score. The number of M&A cases came to 126 in the nine-mo

Think tank says downside risks grow over economy

Moody's Investors Service will closely monitor the asset soundness of non-banking financial institutions in South Korea amid worries that they could face risks from snowballing corporate and household debt and rising interest rates, an analyst of the global credit appraiser said Tuesday. In a virtual media briefing, Ok Tae-jong, a senior analyst at Moodys' Investors also said that a continued increase in household debt and asset prices could negatively affect the evaluation of the overall banki

South Korea said Tuesday it will implement eased capital gain taxes on property sales for single-home owners this week amid growing public discontent over real estate-related tax burdens ahead of the presidential election. Last week, the National Assembly approved a revision to the income tax act that calls for raising a threshold of capital gains tax exemptions on real estate sales for single-house owners to 1.2 billion won (US$1 million) from the previous 900 million won. The government appr

South Korea said Tuesday it has allocated 73 percent of fiscal spending for implementation in the first half of next year in a bid to help the country's economic recovery gain traction. The government plans to front-load 363.5 trillion won ($307.7 billion) of next year's budget spending of 497.7 trillion won in the January-June period, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The 2022 proposition is higher than 72.4 percent of the budget spending allocated in the first half of this ye