SEOUL, Apr. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – The employment-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio fell to a record low last year, data from the central bank and statistical agency showed on Monday, with the speed of the fall causing more alarm among observers of the economy. The ratio measures the number of newly employed workers per 1 [...]
SEOUL, April 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea and Sudan held a high-level policy consultation meeting on Thursday to discuss strengthening economic cooperation in the wake of the lifting of American sanctions on Sudan last year, the foreign ministry here said. Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon welcomed the lifting of 20-year-old sanctions and discussed cooperation with Sudan’s Undersecretary Abdel-ghani Elnaim, [...]
SEOUL, April 10 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea and the World Economic Forum (WEF) will study ways to set up a sister center to the WEF’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and work together on related research activities, Seoul’s chief economic policymaker said Tuesday. “We proposed working together for the establishment of a new [...]
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Private spending in South Korea fell to a record low last year amid gloomy employment prospects and rapid population aging. The ratio of private spending to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 48.1 percent in 2017, down 0.6 percentage points from a year ago, the lowest since records began [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — The organizers of the PyeongChang Olympics were able to economize nearly 500 million won thanks to mobile meal vouchers. Up to 500,000 meals worth 3.5 billion won were purchased via the digital meal vouchers during the 60 days around the Winter Games, Vendys, the startup company behind the money-saving idea, [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The government has announced a series of reforms to boost the South Korean financial technology industry, which could see brand new products including artificial intelligence-based insurance products introduced. The plans revealed by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) on Tuesday revealed a number of new financial products, including insurance products based [...]
SEOUL, March 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Members of South Korea’s central bank policy board agreed to freeze the key rate last month as inflation pressure remained low and economic growth was moderate, according to minutes from the monetary meeting released Tuesday. The Bank of Korea’s (BOK) monetary policy board meeting on Feb. 27 held the base rate at 1.50 percent for the second time in a row since raising the rate for the first time in more than six years [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — The more you earn, the more likely you are to collect receipts and avoid impulse buying, a new survey as revealed. Nearly 9 in 10 people whose monthly salary is over 10 million said they collect receipts, compared to only 65 percent of those who earn less than 2 million [...]
SEOUL, March 8 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s top tax official vowed Thursday to minimize probes of small and medium-sized enterprises as the government is pushing to level the playing field for smaller firms in a country dominated by conglomerates. Han Seung-hee, commissioner of the National Tax Service, also offered to exclude startups and small companies that create new jobs from tax audits. “We will concentrate our capacity on supporting voluntary tax filing, while minimizing inspections [...]
SEOUL, March 8 (Korea Bizwire) – The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) said Thursday it will not pump new funds into the South Korean unit of General Motors Co. unless the U.S. automaker discloses the cost structure of GM Korea Co. Lee Dong-gull, chairman and CEO of KDB, which holds a 17 percent stake in GM Korea, told reporters that a due diligence for GM Korea has [...]