South Korea's economy is expected to experience a modest recovery this year, helped by the easing of trade tensions between the United States and China and rising global demand, the country's central bank chief said Thursday."I anticipate that growth and inflation could rebound this year, compared with last year," Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol told reporters, while adding that a sharp increase is unlikely due to global economic uncertainties.Hit by a lengthy US-China trade war and a c

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea's biggest auto parts maker and a key affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, said Thursday it will select an outside director dedicated to enhancing shareholder value.Hyundai Mobis plans to have shareholders recommend potential outside directors and select one of them who will be in charge of protecting shareholders' rights and interests, the company said in a statement. The move is aimed at strengthening the transparency of Hyundai Motor Group's governance structure and

South Korea’s credit card spending in restaurants fell 0.3 percent on-year in September 2018, marking the first on-year decline in nearly seven years, data from the Bank of Korea showed Wednesday.The decline reflects a deterioration in consumer sentiment which plunged to a two-year low in August, a month before the latest drop observed in credit card spending. According to the nation’s central bank, the combined credit card spending for eating out here came to nearly 4.7 trillio

Gearing up for the new year, South Korea’s top financial officials steeled themselves to face persistent external challenges and to spark new momentum for growth.Given the current trend toward low interest rates, which is likely to last for a while, policymakers vowed further efforts to steady the consequent overheating of the real estate market, saying this excessive liquidity needs to be diverted to innovative businesses.　“We need to maintain an easing monetary policy as the domest

South Korea's consumer prices rose 0.7 percent on-year in December, marking the fastest growth in six months, the statistics agency said Tuesday.  The country's inflation also gained 0.2 percent on-month this month on the back of increased prices of agricultural and industrial products, Statistics Korea said in a statement.   Core inflation, which excludes agricultural and petroleum products, rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier.  Utility prices were unchanged on-ye

‘S. Korea sufficiently capable of attaining growth target of 2.4%’

In line with its all-out efforts to revitalize the economy by any means in the upcoming year, South Korea will introduce a set of new tax rules to reinforce sanctions for delinquent taxpayers and expand tax reduction benefits for innovative small-sized businesses, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Monday.In a pan-government policy brochure titled “Things to change in 2020,” the government listed key policy changes that will take shape in 2020, many of them slated to take effec

South Korea's industrial output growth accelerated in November, supported by a modest gain in the service sector, data showed Monday. The November industrial output rose 0.4 percent from a year earlier, rebounding from a 0.4 percent decline in October, with both retail sales and facility investment growing from a month earlier in November, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The data showed the production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries declined

KIPO cuts fees for IP financing banks and patent-seeking startups

FSC in progress to introduce strong-handed loan ban on loan expedients

South Korea's finance ministry said Sunday it has selected 11 banks, including five foreign banks, as the lenders responsible for setting prices for direct won-yuan transactions next year.The banks will be also tasked with taking the lead in providing liquidity to the market, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. The six South Korean banks are KB Kookmin bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, KEB Hana Bank and Korea Development Bank. And the five local

South Korea's exports are widely expected to extend its slump to a 13th month in December, but its declining pace may slow down, on the back of a rebound in global chip prices amid progress in a trade deal between the United States and China, a poll showed Sunday.The country's exports are estimated to reach $45.9 billion this month, down 4.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the poll conducted on seven local financial organizations by Yonhap Infomax, the financial information service arm

South Korea's consumer prices are again expected to fall short of the target this month, mainly due to a fall in prices of agricultural products, a poll showed Sunday.In a recent survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, seven local analysts predicted the country's consumer prices to grow 0.59 percent from a year earlier in December. In November, inflation gained 0.2 percent on-year.December would mark the 12th consecutive month the country's consumer prices have gr

South Korea’s central bank said Friday that it plans to keep its monetary easing stance next year in a bid to support economic recovery. “We plan to maintain a monetary easing stance to support recovery in economic growth and stabilize inflation at the target level of 2 percent,” the Bank of Korea said in its report outlining the direction of its monetary policy for 2020.  “We expect South Korea’s economic growth rate to fall short of the potential growth rate

South Korea's consumer sentiment slightly deteriorated from a month earlier in December but remained positive for a second consecutive month, central bank data showed Friday.The composite consumer sentiment index came to 100.4 in the month, compared with 100.9 in November, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists. The index remained above 100 for a second-straight month after breaching the benchmark for the first time in the seven mont