South Korea's tax revenue rose 13.8 trillion won ($12.4 billion) in April from a year earlier due largely to an increase in the collection of capital gains taxes, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The country collected 44.9 trillion won in taxes in April, compared with 31.2 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The rise in tax revenue was mainly attributable to an increase in capital gains tax income from housing transactions and fund investments.

South Korea's current account surplus sharply narrowed in April as higher oil prices increased the country's import bill, the central bank said Tuesday. The current account surplus reached $1.91 billion in April, narrowing from a surplus of $7.82 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. Since the country logged a deficit of $3.33 billion in April last year, the largest in almost a decade, on faltering e

With growing signs of an interest rate hike from the US Federal Reserve as early as this year, a hawkish turn there will increase debt burdens in South Korea if policymakers here fail to take timely steps, a think tank said Monday. Debt interest payments per Korean household could gain as much as 2.5 million won ($2,249.62) on average if the US Fed decides to raise its interest rate from the current near-zero level, a report from the Korea Economic Research Institute showed. The KERI projecte

Two thousand employees at South Korea’s troubled state housing developer will be out of jobs as a result of a reform triggered by a massive land speculation scandal, the government said Monday. The Korea Land and Housing Corp. will streamline its organizational structure, cutting 20 percent of the company’s workforce, to focus on its key functions -- housing welfare and home supply. Other noncore administrative functions will be abolished or transferred to other bodies such as the

The South Korean economy is on a modest recovery track as exports remain robust and a slump in private consumption has eased, a state-run think tank said Monday. The country's exports and facility investment have expanded amid a global economic recovery, while sluggishness in consumption has eased, according to a monthly economic assessment report by the Korea Development Institute (KDI). "The Korean economy is recovering at a modest pace as exports maintain a favorable trend and the slug

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Monday it has set up a division to better investigate alleged unfair business activity related to digital ads by online platform operators. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said it has established a division in charge of digital advertisements under its ICT team amid growing influence by platform operators, such as Google and Facebook, in the customer-tailored online ads market. Established in November 2019, the ICT team has mainly conducted probes

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Monday it plans to release 80,000 tons of rice into the market this month to cope with supply shortages and stabilize prices. The move will raise the amount of reserved rice released into the market since January this year to 290,000 tons, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The ministry earlier announced it plans to release up to 370,000 tons of reserved rice into the market this year. The combined production of rice came

South Korea said Monday it plans to increase the number of government-supported shipping services to North America starting next month to help local exporters cope with the hike in freight costs. Under the plan, the country will operate four shipping schedules to North America monthly starting July under cooperation with HMM Co., South Korea's largest shipper, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The figure marks a sharp rise from the previous plan to operate two shipping s

Foreign investors turned to net sellers of South Korean stocks last month, ending their one-month buying spree, data showed Monday. Foreigners sold a net 10.1 trillion won ($9 billion) worth of local stocks in May, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Investors from the United States sold 2.9 trillion won of stocks last month, while investors from Singapore purchased a net 654 billion won of stocks, according to the FSS. As of end-May, local stocks held by forei

Apartment prices in Seoul and its adjacent areas grew more than 1 percent for the fifth straight month in May despite the government's efforts to stabilize skyrocketing home prices, data showed Sunday. Housing prices in greater Seoul grew 1.21 percent in May from the previous month, compared with a 1.33 percent gain in April, according to data from the Korea Real Estate Board. Since January, the growth of apartment prices in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, 40 kilometers west of the capit

South Korea may collect around 32 trillion won ($28.6 billion) in excess tax revenue this year, potentially securing ammunition to finance another round of an extra budget under review, government sources said Sunday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Friday the government is considering creating this year's second extra budget with a larger-than-expected tax revenue in a bid to underpin an economic recovery and support vulnerable groups hit hard by the pandemic. The country is estimated to co

South Korean stocks are likely to extend gains next week on sustained recovery hope and the accelerating inoculation drive here. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 3,240.08 points Friday, up 1.61 percent from a week ago. Stocks advanced this week as improved economic data at home and abroad further enhanced hopes for a quicker-than-expected recovery. In May, South Korea's exports jumped 45.6 percent on-year to extend their gains to a seventh consecutive month, a

South Korea's chief economic policymaker said Friday the government is reviewing another extra budget with larger tax revenue in a bid to help support vulnerable people hit hard by the pandemic. Minister Hong Nam-ki said the country will not sell more government bonds to finance the extra budget as it is expected to collect more tax revenue this year amid an economic recovery. "The government will focus its policy efforts on helping restore the job market and achieve an inclusive growth,&

Apartment prices in Seoul have risen to the levels where they were before the global financial crisis of 2008, which prompted a severe market correction, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday. “I have a serious concern about one-sided anticipation that the housing market will become unstable again in the second half of this year because of new regulations that will come into effect from June,” the minister said during a policy meeting. Along with the government’s hous

South Korean companies saw their profitability continue their growth in 2020, but their sales declined amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Thursday. The ratio of operating profit to sales of non-financial firms in the country reached 5.1 percent last year, up from 4.8 percent tallied a year ago, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). At the same time, the pretax net profit margin of South Korean companies rose on-year to 4.3 percent from 4.1 percent. But their sale