Retail oil prices in South Korea rose for the ninth consecutive week to reach the highest level in nearly three years amid a global oil rally, data showed Sunday. The average gasoline price nationwide was 1,600.9 won ($1.40) per liter in the fifth week of June, edging up 13.5 won from a week earlier, according to the data provided by the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC). The gasoline price surpassed the 1,600 won level for the first time since November 2018. Diesel prices also gained

South Korea’s National Tax Service has joined a nonprofit European tax body in a bid to enhance cooperation with member countries and provide policy support for local companies making forays into the European market. The Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations approved South Korea’s entry as an associate member -- the first in Asia -- at the 25th General Assembly held through video conferencing from Wednesday to Friday. The IOTA consists of 44 member countries from the

South Korean conglomerates Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are likely to be subject to a global minimum tax rate that multinational companies will have to pay regardless of where their headquarters are. Some 130 countries and jurisdictions, representing more than 90 percent of global gross domestic product, endorsed a set of tax plans aimed at addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and D

South Korea’s fiscal policy will be expansionary but its monetary policy could turn slightly more hawkish, the respective chiefs in charge of each said Friday. Both said their solutions would minimize the economic woes stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki met Friday with Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol amid controversy over policy discord. There have been strong signals of a rate hike by the end of the year from the central bank, and the government recently unv

Thirteen out of South Korea's top 50 business group heads hold stocks worth more than 1 trillion won ($881 million) as of end-June, with Samsung Group's chief being the richest, a corporate tracker said Friday. The number, which came amid a bullish local stock market, was up from 12 recorded in the first quarter of this year, according to CXO Institute Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto chairman of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, owned the largest amount

The finance ministers of South Korea and France have held a virtual meeting to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation and agenda items ahead of a key international financial meeting, Seoul's finance ministry said Friday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire had an online meeting on Thursday ahead of next week's meeting of finance chiefs from the Group of 20 (G-20) economies, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The G-20 finance ministers

South Korea's consumer prices grew more than 2 percent for the third straight month in June on higher prices of farm and oil products, data showed Friday, underscoring expectations that a rate hike within this year may become more plausible amid an economic recovery. The consumer price index rose 2.4 percent on-year in June, slowing from a 2.6 percent on-year gain the previous month, the fastest rise in more than nine years, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The inflation gai

South Korea will carry out massive public-private R&D collaboration projects to capture the biggest share of the global rechargeable battery market by 2030, the country’s top economic policymaker said Thursday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government will soon announce detailed strategic plans to make the country the largest producer of next-generation rechargeable batteries to stay ahead of global rivals. In 2020, Korean rechargeable battery makers topped the world marke

Some 80 percent of South Koreans will receive 250,000 won ($220) each in the latest COVID-19 cash handout program, officials said Thursday. After a pangovernmental meeting, officials said they have decided to earmark 10.4 trillion won for the nation’s fifth cash relief program. The money will be funneled from the nation’s 33 trillion-won second COVID-19 extra budget for this year, which the ruling party and government jointly unveiled Tuesday. The “bottom 80 percent income b

The state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) said Thursday it will provide 180 trillion won (US$159 billion) worth of loans related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) by 2030. The state lender made the pledge while announcing its ESG management road map to mark the 45th anniversary of its foundation at its headquarters in Seoul. The road map also includes the issuance of ESG bonds worth $20 billion by that year to extend loans to the ESG sector, Eximbank said. ESG bonds ref

Energy demand here is expected to rise over the summer in sync with the recovery of industrial activities and hotter-than-usual weather conditions, the industry ministry said Thursday. The country's maximum electricity demand is estimated to range from 90.9 to 94.4 gigawatts (GW) during the peak of this summer, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The ceiling is based on the assumption that the average temperature hits 30.2 C during the peak. The estimated peak summer ene

K-Bank, South Korea's first internet-only bank, said Thursday its customers and deposits grew sharply in the second quarter of the year amid the coronavirus outbreak. The number of customers stood at 6.19 million as of the end of June, 2.28 million more than three months earlier, the lender said, which is led by telecom giant KT Corp. The online lender's outstanding loans totaled 5.09 trillion won ($4.5 billion), up 1.29 trillion won from the first quarter, which marks the largest quarterly in

South Korea proposed an extra budget of 33 trillion won ($29.2 billion) Thursday to fund another round of COVID-19 relief aid packages for people in the bottom 80 percent income bracket and smaller merchants hit by the pandemic. This year's second extra budget will be used to finance the 36 trillion-won virus relief packages, the fifth of its kind, designed to support the self-employed and vulnerable people hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Th

South Korea's exports are expected to reach a record high in 2021, a report said Thursday, on the back of the global economic recovery and stronger demand for semiconductor products. Outbound shipments are expected to reach up to $610 billion this year, up 19 percent from 2020, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). The country's exports dropped 5.5 percent on-year in 2020 to $512 billion amid the COVID-19 pandemic. KOTRA attributed the rosy outlook to strong overs

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Thursday the country will push for large-scale research and development (R&D) projects to foster the next-generation rechargeable battery industry. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government will soon unveil the detailed plan to nurture the rechargeable battery sector with the goal of the country taking the lead in the segment. The government plans to help companies secure the stable supply chains of materials for such batteries and to fost