SEJONG, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s rapidly increased life expectancy has helped boost the country’s economic growth by 0.4 percentage point over the past 15 years as people tend to save more, eventually leading to an increase in spending and capital stocks, a report showed Thursday. South Korea’s life expectancy reached 82.4 years [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) – Although the surge in household debt has been slowing down, the burden on the financially disadvantaged has in fact increased. Concerns are spreading about a ‘Balloon Effect’ as the economically disadvantaged are unable to easily obtain bank loans, and are therefore seeing their debt materialize as loans with onerous [...]
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) – President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday her administration is “strongly” considering designating a temporary holiday next week to encourage more people to spend and help prop up the national economy. In a luncheon with leaders of major news outlets earlier in the day, Park said she is “positively considering” the [...]
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) – With Korean companies hiring fewer and fewer employees due to the prolonged economic downturn, the newly-unemployed are discovering that obtaining new employment is increasingly difficult, and as such, it is taking them longer to find new jobs. According to Statistics Korea’s Q1 numbers released on Monday, there were 112,000 [...]
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) – Household loans extended by local banks rose at a fast clip in March due to a large increase in mortgage loans, central bank data showed Monday. Outstanding household loans extended by lenders here came to 649 trillion won (US$564.2 billion) as of end-March, up 4.9 trillion won from the [...]
SEOUL, April 15 (Korea Bizwire) – Investors have pumped in more cash in bond funds than stock funds so far this year as they seek more stable returns, a fund rating and consulting company said Friday. Domestic bond-focused funds have seen a cash inflow of 1.37 trillion won (US$1.2 billion) this year through April 12, KG Zeroin [...]
SEOUL, April 1 (Korea Bizwire) – Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Friday encouraged more couples to have smaller and more frugal weddings, saying that an extravagant event imposes huge financial burdens on young people. “People should embrace a culture that promotes frugal yet meaningful weddings,” Hwang said during a luncheon with five newlywed couples at his [...]
SEJONG, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said Tuesday that it maintains its rating on South Korea at a record high of Aa2, citing its sound economic fundamental and reduced vulnerability to external risks, with its rating outlook also remaining stable. But the escalating tension stemming from North Korea’s recent provocations [...]
SEJONG, Mar. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of college graduates in South Korea remain jobless through their late 20s, attributing to the record high youth unemployment rate last month, data showed Sunday. Out of 114,000 people who had stayed jobless for more than four weeks in February, 80,000, or 70.2 percent, were aged [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of South Korean households had difficulties paying off their debt with their income last year, data showed Sunday, raising concerns over their financial stability and shrinking domestic consumption. “Marginal households” whose debt-to-disposable income ratio is over 40 percent tallied at 1.58 million, accounting for 14.8 percent [...]