SEOUL, Mar. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s consumer sentiment snapped an improvement for the third consecutive month in March amid soaring prices of farm goods and a slump in private spending, a central bank poll showed Tuesday. The composite consumer sentiment index stood at 100.7 this month, down from 101.9 the previous month, according [...]
SEOUL, March 25 (Korea Bizwire) – Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said Monday that the government will devise measures to boost the competitiveness of the farming industry and revamp its logistics structure as surging prices of fruits and fresh food items have pushed up inflation. Choi announced the plan during a visit to a major discount [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – As stubbornly high inflation persists, South Korean households are tightening their purse strings even on private education expenses, long considered the last bastion of family budgets, according to data released on March 18. BC Card, a major credit card company, reported a staggering 24 percent year-over-year plunge in education-related spending [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on Monday called for extra effort by government officials to bring inflation under control amid weak private consumption, his office said. Choi made the call during a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, where he also instructed them to come up [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean economy has been on a recovery track on the solid growth of exports, but disparities among sectors remain wide amid weak consumption and investment, the finance ministry said Friday. “As shown in manufacturing production and exports, the country has seen an economic recovery and a stable [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Two years into the era of high inflation, elusive price increases led by fruits and vegetables such as apples, pears, and green onions continue to burden consumers. Following the hike in gasoline and the cost of eating out in previous years, the soaring prices of everyday food items have become [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent study has highlighted the correlation between worsening economic conditions and higher suicide rates, emphasizing the significant impact of a 1% decrease in the employment rate on youth suicide fatalities, which rise by 1.7%. Conducted by the Korea Labor Institute, the research, titled “Economic Shocks and Suicide,” explores the [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea experienced its darkest winter in ten years from December to February, with sunlight levels plummeting, signaling potential difficulties for this year’s greenhouse crop yields. Concerns are rising that the poor condition of crops such as cucumbers, strawberries, watermelons, melons, and oriental melons could lead to reduced production [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s inflation ticked up to over 3 percent in a month in February on high prices of fresh food items and energy, data showed Wednesday. Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 3.1 percent on-year last month, compared with a 2.8 percent increase a month earlier, according [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The financial regulator said Wednesday it will work to quickly provide up to 5 trillion won (US$3.75 billion) in financial support to local firms this year, while pushing to create an additional 3 trillion-won investment fund for businesses. The government earlier announced plans to provide more than 76 trillion [...]