Major global investment banks (IBs) have revised up their forecasts for South Korea's 2021 economic growth for the third consecutive month amid growing expectations for a recovery, a report showed Tuesday. As of end-February, nine major global IBs, including Barclays, BoA-Merrill Lynch and Citi, forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy to grow 3.6 percent this year, up 0.1 percentage point from their median outlook a month earlier, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Fin

South Korea's current account surplus narrowed sharply in January due to higher oil prices, the central bank said Tuesday. The current account surplus reached $7.06 billion last month, narrowing from a surplus of $11.51 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 exports amid the COVID-19 p

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said on Monday that the latest land speculation scandal involving public officials is a wake-up call for public servants whose misdeeds undermine the credibility of key policies. Public outcry mounted over allegations that employees of the state-run housing developer Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) used internal information on housing supply projects for their speculative property investments. "Public servants should take the latest case with extra vigilance

As part of the financial authorities’ latest move to bolster monitoring of conglomerates, major firms with financial arms will be legally required to receive board approval for intracompany transactions over 5 billion won ($4.4 million), from June 30, the Financial Services Commission said Monday. South Korean firms, not classified as banking groups, with over 5 trillion won in financial assets and more than two financial units -- mostly insurers and brokerages -- are subjected to the &l

South Korea’s food prices increased at the fourth-highest rate among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in January, largely due to a supply shortage brought on by bird flu, according to data and market experts Monday. January’s prices for groceries and nonalcoholic beverages soared by 6.5 percent on-year, more than twice the OECD average of 3.1 percent, data compiled by the OECD and Statistics Korea showed. Among the 37 OECD member states, steepe

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Monday it has decided to fine four manufacturers of sewage pipes and manhole covers a combined 2.95 billion won ($2.6 million) for colluding to fix prices of industrial products. Kolon Industries Inc. and its three smaller rivals colluded to fix their quotations between 2011 and 2016 for 268 rounds of purchase bidding for waste pipes and manhole covers by the state procurement agency and builders, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KTFC). The d

South Korean banks saw their 2020 earnings decline 11.5 percent from a year earlier as they set aside more loan-loss reserves amid the pandemic, data showed Monday. Their combined net profit came to 12.3 trillion won ($10.9 billion) last year, compared with 13.9 trillion won the previous year, according to preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The decline in net profit came as local banks sharply increased loan-loss reserves last year to cope with the fallout from the

South Korea's oceans ministry announced Monday a five-year blueprint to better manage the country's fishery resources, as climate change and overfishing have been challenging the sustainability of the local fisheries industry. Under the plan, the combined amount of fishery resources in the country's coastal lines will rise to 4 million tons by 2025, soaring 28 percent from the current estimate of 3.13 million tons, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. In detail, South Korea will

South Korea’s Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Sunday apologized for the snowballing land speculation scandal involving employees of the state-run housing company and vowed a zero-tolerance policy, including confiscation of any illegally obtained properties. Hong’s statement follows the government’s decision Thursday to probe the allegations concerning more than 10 former and current employees at the Korea Land & Housing Corp. who likely used prior information acquired to

South Korea had 69 globally top-selling products in 2019, putting the country in 11th place overall, data showed Sunday. China had the most items with 1,759, followed by Germany with 654 and the United States with 520, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). By segment, South Korean made chemical products accounted for 27 of the country's export items with top global market shares, followed by steel and other metal products with 18. KITA said solid-state drives (SSDs)

South Korea’s vice finance minister on Friday warned of possible drivers of inflation, including rising oil prices and farm products, vowing efforts to closely monitor a potential surge in consumer prices.  “The consumer price index has continued an upward trend from 0.6 percent in January to 1.1 percent last month, largely due to gains in global oil prices and farm products,” said Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom during an economic meeting.  “There seems

South Korea's vice finance minister on Friday warned of growing inflation risks in the face of rising oil prices and hopes for an economic recovery. But First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said inflation is not likely to sharply rise in the short term as recent price hikes were led by a supply shortage of farm products amid the pandemic. "Inflation risks linger as global liquidity has increased in the process of responding to the pandemic and inflation expectations have risen amid h

South Korea should adopt fractional share investing in order to enhance financial inclusiveness and diversify asset portfolios of real estate-reliant small investors, the head of a local fintech firm suggested on Thursday. By allowing investors to buy less than a full share, investors with a tight budget can have more chances to invest in blue-chip stocks that used to be out of their reach, Kakaopay CEO Ryu Young-joon said during a seminar held by Rep. Lee Kwang-jae of the Democratic Party of

South Korea’s per capita gross national income dropped for the second consecutive year in 2020, central bank data showed Thursday, deflating anticipations of further growth after the figure surpassed the $30,000-mark for the first time in 2018. The nation’s GNI per capita as of end-December last year shed 1.1 percent on-year to $31,755, in terms of dollars, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. This marked the first time the figure dropped for two years in a row sin

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 33 percent in February from a year earlier on robust sales of German cars, an industry association said Thursday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles climbed to 22,290 units last month from 16,725 a year ago despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models last month were the Mercedes-Benz E 250 sedan, Volkswagen Jetta 1.4 TSI sedan,