SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s overseas financial assets reached an all-time high last year on the back of increased stock investments and investment returns, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country’s external financial assets came to $2.16 trillion as of end-December, up $198.2 billion from a year earlier, according to preliminary data [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) – The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Monday it has successfully completed its first phase of a two-step mock test of the feasibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as it is reviewing whether to introduce the potential new form of money. The BOK launched the first phase in [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Curbs on business operation hours have resulted in the biggest shrinkage in the “consumption of in-person services” among various antivirus measures introduced to combat the coronavirus pandemic, an internal central bank report showed Monday. The report suggests that easing a curfew on business operations while imposing a stricter ceiling [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Exports by companies in South Korea’s free trade zones grew 89.6 percent on-year to hit an all-time high last year, the industry ministry said Sunday. Outbound shipments came to US$10.94 billion, surpassing the $10 billion mark for the first time ever, according to the data from the Ministry of [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges made to South Korea surged 42.3 percent in 2021 from a year earlier to reach an all-time high, data showed Monday. Foreigners pledged to invest US$29.51 billion in South Korea in 2021, compared with $20.7 billion a year earlier, according to the data by [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign direct investment pledged to South Korea’s free economic zones (FEZs) surged 42.8 percent in 2021, led by the overseas investment in bio and other new industry sectors, data showed Tuesday. The country’s nine FEZs received US$1.31 billion worth of FDI commitment last year, up from $910 million a [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in 10 years in 2021 due to surging energy costs and high prices of farm products, data showed Friday, indicating a build-up in inflationary pressure for Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Consumer prices rose 2.5 percent this year from a year earlier, [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s exports rose 25.8 percent in 2021 from the previous year to reach an all-time high on the back of solid demand for chips and petroleum products amid a global economic recovery, the industry ministry said Saturday. Outbound shipments stood at US$644.54 billion last year, compared with $512.5 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean economy is expected to expand 2.8 percent on-year in 2022, slower than this year’s projected 3.9 percent growth, amid weaker private consumption and global demand, a local think tank said Sunday. The projection by the LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI) is lower than that by the [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — The prices of instant noodles in South Korea grew at the fastest pace in about 13 years last month, data showed Sunday, raising worries that such steep price hikes could increase inflationary pressures. According to the data by Statistics Korea, the price of instant noodles, or “ramyeon” in Korean, [...]