Local market losing charm due to excessive restrictions, high corporate tax, unchanged financial hub strategy, experts say

Financial authorities on Sunday unveiled a plan to encourage banks and other financial institutions to provide mid-rate loans to low-income people and non-prime borrowers. Mid-rate loans are not clearly defined, but such loans refer to credit loans with an interest rate of some 10 percent for people with middle credit scores, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Under the plan, about 2 million people with middle credit ratings are expected to take out a total of 32 trillion

South Korea faced a total of 212 import restrictions from trade partners in the first quarter amid growing protectionism, according to a report Sunday. The number of import regulations facing South Korea was up five from three months ago, according to the report from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). Import restrictions cover anti-dumping duties, countervailing tariffs and safeguard measures, including investigations into suspected practices. Foreign import restrictions ha

South Korea's exports of cosmetics shot up 15 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, on the back of growing demand from the United States and Asian countries. Outbound shipments of cosmetics reached $6.12 billion last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service and the Korea Cosmetic Association. South Korea's imports of cosmetics fell 10.7 percent on-year in 2020 to $1.07 billion. The country's exports of cosmetics had been maintaining two-digit annual

South Korea said Friday it plans to import more eggs this month in a bid to help stabilize rising prices of eggs that were caused by the outbreak of bird flu here. The country plans to bring in 40 million eggs in April, up from the initially planned imports of 25 million, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The ministry said it will push to increase the imports of eggs next month as well and take available steps to curb a sharp rise in egg prices amid a build-up in overall inflat

Foreign ownership of South Korean land expanded nearly 2 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, the land ministry said Friday. Foreigners owned 253.3 square kilometers of land here as of the end of December last year, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The amount is slightly more than four times the size of Manhattan and accounts for 0.25 percent of South Korea's total land area. The value of land held by foreigners grew 3.1 perc

The daily foreign exchange (FX) trading by banks in South Korea jumped 20.7 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, thanks to a modest recovery in trade, central bank data showed Friday. The daily FX turnover came to an average $60.94 billion in the January-March period, up $10.44 billion from the fourth quarter of last year, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). It was the biggest three-month gain since 2008, when the BOK changed its method of compiling the data.

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans inched up in February from the previous month, the financial regulator said Thursday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.33 percent at the end of February, up 0.02 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, the bank loan delinquency rate was up 0.1 percentage point. Banks' loan delinquency rate remains stable mainly bec

The portion of South Korean exports settled using the country's currency inched down in 2020 from a year ago, data showed Thursday. The use of the won accounted for 2.5 percent of all export settlements last year, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The slight decline was attributed to Washington's economic sanctions on Tehran for its nuclear program, which led to decreased use of the won in settling exports to the Middle East. Wo

South Korean women have suffered employment strains more than men amid the pandemic as job posts in the in-person service segment, hard hit by the virus outbreak, sharply eroded, a report showed Thursday. The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to married women in the labor force, compared with previous economic turmoil when married men suffered sharp job losses, according to the report by the Korea Development Institute (KDI). The number of employed women aged between 25 and 54 declined

The volume of container cargo processed at South Korea's seaports rose 1.3 percent on-year in the first quarter of 2021 as global trade continued to recover from economic jitters sparked by the new coronavirus pandemic, the country's oceans ministry said Thursday. Container cargo processed at the seaports reached 7.29 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) in the January-March period, rising from the previous year's 7.19 TEUs, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. TEU stands

Experts say tax hike inevitable to cover soaring public expenditures

South Korea's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) saw their exports touch a fresh high in the first quarter on brisk overseas demand for medical products and chips, government data showed Wednesday. SMEs' overseas shipments totaled $27 billion in the January-March period, up 12.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It was the highest-ever amount for the first quarter and exceeded the previous first-quarter record of $25.2 billion in

The number of employees in the food service segment declined by the most in the May-October period of last year due to the fallout of the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The number of people employed at restaurants and eateries reached 1.54 million in the cited period, 179,000 fewer than the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the largest on-year decline since 2013, when the statistics agency began compiling related data. Workers in the food service segment accounted for

South Korea's exports jumped 45.4 percent on-year in the first 20 days of April as shipments of chips, autos and oil products remained solid amid an economic recovery, customs data showed Wednesday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $30.9 billion in the April 1-20 period, compared with $21 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports increased 31.3 percent on-year to $33 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $2 billion during the cited period