South Korea's electricity consumption fell to a four-year low in August in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and a long rainy season, data showed Friday. Power sales in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 44,599 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in August, down 6.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from state utility Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO). The figure is the lowest industrial power consumption for August since the 44,412 GWh registered in the same month of 2016. It also r

SEJONG -- South Korea's finance minister said Friday that the government plans to introduce multiple voting rights for non-listed venture startups to help shareholders strengthen their control over companies. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the scheme is aimed at encouraging venture startups to get major investment deals, while defending companies against hostile takeovers. The scheme could allow one stock to give 10 votes if a non-listed venture startup faces a hostile takeover. However

Major South Korean lender Woori Bank said Friday it has issued AU$400 million ($283 million) in bonds in Australia as part of efforts to help coronavirus-hit South Korean firms and finance eco-friendly projects. The three-year "Kangaroo" bonds come in two tranches -- floating-rate bonds worth AU$250 million and fixed-rate debt worth AU$150 million, the lender said. The floating-rate bonds carry an interest rate of 0.72 percentage point above the Australian bank bill swap rate, with t

The Bank of Korea (BOK) will maintain a soft monetary policy to bolster the recovery of the South Korean economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the top central banker said Friday. "The BOK will keep its monetary policy accommodative to help the domestic economy bounce back," BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said at the start of an annual parliamentary audit of the central bank. In the process, the BOK will keep close tabs on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economies and financial

SEJONG -- Economic recovery has shown signs of delay due to a resurgence in new coronavirus infections in mid-August, but the pace of decline in exports eased, the finance ministry said Friday. In a monthly economic report, called the "Green Book," the Ministry of Economy and Finance also flagged the economy's continuing uncertainty stemming from the virus resurgence. "Indicators of domestic consumption and employment took a turn for the worse because of a resurgence in COVID-1

SEJONG-- South Korea lost about 392,000 jobs in September, marking a decline in the number of the employed for the seventh consecutive month, as the coronavirus pandemic hammered job markets, data showed Friday. The country's jobless rate rose by 0.5 percentage point on-year to 3.6 percent in September, with the number of employed people falling to 27.01 million, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the longest fall since the eight months of decline posted in 2009 ami

Despite the containment of the coronavirus pandemic nationwide, South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, is still sitting on an economic powder keg, high-ranking officials of credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings said Thursday. While Korea and other Asia-Pacific economies are seeing a relatively swift recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to timely policies and boosted trade, they appear to be far off from pre-COVID levels, Shaun Roache, chief Asia-Pacific economist at S&am

62% surge reported in Sejong, 21% in Gyeonggi

The South Korean economy is expected to fare better than other countries over the next two years, but it will be in a deep recession amid the coronavirus pandemic, an economist at ratings agency S&P Global Ratings said Thursday. Shaun Roache, chief economist on the Asia-Pacific region at S&P, said South Korea's central bank is expected to keep its policy rate low at least throughout 2023 to prop up the economic recovery. "Korea is one of the best performing economies in the world.

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans inched higher in August from the prior month but remained stable, the financial watchdog said Thursday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.38 percent at the end of August, up 0.02 percentage point from July, according the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, however, the bank loan delinquency rate was down 0.13 percentage point. "Despite a slight on-month increase, b

SEJONG -- The number of people aged 65 or older in South Korea is expected to account for 30 percent of the population in 2035, a report showed Thursday, highlighting concerns that the fast-aging demographic transition could pose a drag on the country's economy. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of people aged 65 or older stood at 8.03 million this year, accounting for 16.1 percent of the nation's population. The South Korean population is projected to peak in 2028 before

South Korea's money supply continued to grow at a fast clip in August as household and corporate lending grew amid a long streak of low rates and the new coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Thursday. The country's M2 stood at 3,101.6 trillion won ($2.71 trillion) as of end-August, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It decelerated from a 10 percent on-year gain in July when the money supply grew at the fastest pace in nearl

Foreign investors extended a net sale of South Korean securities funds for the second straight month in September, led by an expansion in net offloading of stock funds, the central bank said Thursday. Foreigners offloaded a net $2.09 billion worth of local stocks and bonds last month, larger than a net sale of $220 million in August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Foreign investors sold a net $2.08 billion worth of stocks last month on a one-off factor, higher than a net sale of $890 mi

South Korea's outbound shipments of information and communication technology (ICT) products rose 11.9 percent on-year in September, data showed Thursday, as global demand for semiconductors picked up amid the pandemic. Exports of ICT products stood at $17.63 billion last month, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT, marking an on-year rise in exports for the fourth consecutive month. Meanwhile, imports of ICT products reached $9.56 billion in September, up 9 percent ove

SEJONG -- An extension of debt relief programs by the Group of 20 major economies will help low-income nations achieve their economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, South Korea's finance minister has said. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and his counterparts of G-20 finance ministers agreed to extend the debt relief programs by another six months during their virtual meeting Wednesday. Under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), the G-20 gave debt relief to poor nations in Apri