South Korea's central bank said Thursday that it will maintain an expansionary monetary policy next year, but it will keep close tabs on economic conditions in order to tailor its policies accordingly."The domestic economy is expected to pull off stable growth next year, but the central bank will stay expansionary on low inflationary pressure," said the Bank of Korea in a report on its annual monetary strategy for 2018. "While closely looking into growth and consumer prices, the B

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States will kick off negotiations to amend their bilateral free trade agreement next week, Seoul's trade ministry said Wednesday.The first round of talks will be held in Washington on Jan. 5 following months of preparation triggered by the Donald Trump administration's request to revise the pact.US President Trump has blamed the five-year-old deal, known as KORUS, for the growing US trade deficit with South Korea. But Seoul has pointed to macroeconomic fa

Government vows to reduce social, economic gap through job creation and welfare

South Korea will implement its economic policy next year to boost job creation and innovative growth, which will help improve quality of life, while laying the foundation to tackle the country's chronic low birthrate and maintain a decent economic expansion over the mid-to-long haul, the finance ministry said Wednesday.The economy is expected to grow at around 3 percent next year, following this year's estimated 3.1 percent expansion, on the back of the solid global economy and a series of polic

South Korea's trade ministry and local steelmakers have discussed ways to cope with the United States' growing trade protectionism including adjusting steel exports, officials said Monday.The ministry held a meeting with trade experts and local steelmakers, including top player POSCO and its rival Hyundai Steel Co., on Thursday to discuss how to tackle Washington's move to restrict the imports of South Korean steel products.Some experts proposed the need for local companies to reduce steel expor

South Korea’s quarterly growth rate of gross domestic product in volume grew 1.5 percent in the third quarter of the year, according to data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.The country’s growth rate between July and September was the third-highest on-quarter increase among G-20 countries, after China and India. China’s GDP in volume grew 1.7 percent, while India saw 1.6 percent of growth in the same period.

Economic recovery without a wage increase has been picked as one of top 10 global trends next year, a local think tank said Monday. In the 2018 Global 10 Trends report, the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) said an economic recovery without wage hikes is widely expected globally as employers in advanced countries prefer hiring low-paying temporary workers to regular employees. The research institute expected the number of low-paying jobs in the food and housing industry will increase but that of

Korea needs to step up efforts to advance service industries to ensure sustainable economic growth amid mounting trade protectionism across the globe, economists here say.In terms of service sector competitiveness, the country remains near the bottom among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.According to OECD data, labor productivity of service industries was just 45.1 percent of that of manufacturing industries in Korea in 2014, far below 87.8 percent in F

South Korea's economy may be able to pull off 3 percent growth in 2018, although numbers may dip slightly from this year, a poll conducted on head of local think tanks predicted Monday.The six research institute chiefs said in the survey carried out by Yonhap News Agency, said exports that have fueled growth in2017 will likely trail off with facility investment and the construction sector also holding back the economy.New jobs to be created in the new year could reach around 300,000, which is a

　Growth of South Korean households’ financial assets reached an all-time low this year amid prolonged low interest rates, government data showed Sunday.　The average financial assets of local households stood at 97.8 million won (US$90,600) as of the end of March, up a mere 1.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Bank of Korea.　It marked the lowest on-year gain since 2012, when those agencies began compiling rel

The chiefs of South Korea‘s major commercial banks expect the economy to expand around 3 percent on-year in 2018 on brisk exports and a recovery in consumer spending, a poll showed Sunday.　In written interviews with Yonhap News Agency, the heads of the lenders -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, KB Hana and Nonghyup -- forecast Asia’s fourth-largest economy to continue its recovery pace in the coming year.　South Korea‘s overseas shipments are projected to remain resilient thanks to

South Korea's chief economic policymaker has said the South Korean economy will see solid growth in 2018, but there are still headwinds."The global economy is expected to remain strong, but at the same there are unfavorable external factors, such as trade protectionism and rate hikes," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a press meeting Thursday. "We also have many things to do for job creation, and that's the top priority of next year's economic policy."Asia's fourth-larg

The government said Friday it will push legislation early next year to promote the production and use of supermini vehicles as a means of saving energy.Ultra-small vehicles will include those with less than 250 cc in engine capacity or 15kW in rated output, that are lighter than 600 kilograms and have a maximum speed of 80 kms per hour, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said.In comparison, vehicles with up to 1,000 cc in engine capacity are categorized as small cars under the Au

One South Korean household owes more than 70 million won ($65,000) on average to banks and other financial companies this year as people borrowed to buy homes and invest in real estate and business activities, government data showed Thursday.The average household debt was tallied at 70.22 million won as of end-March this year, up 4.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.Of the total, 71.2 percent, or 49.98 million won, was financial loans, up 5.9 percent on

South Korea's central bank chief said Thursday that Asia's fourth-largest economy is expected to pull off growth close to its potential economic growth rate based on favorable global trade conditions."Despite many difficulties, the South Korean economy achieved 3 percent growth this year," Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said at a meeting with economic experts and advisers. "For next year, the economy will expand at its potential growth rate if there are no unpredictable developmen