SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) – South Korea needs to revive its economic dynamics to achieve sustainable growth, as it may face a drop in growth potential due to the rapidly aging population, a director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Sunday. “The Bank of Korea (BOK) estimated that South Korea’s growth potential is around 3 to 3.2 percent, but it will likely drop to below 3 percent in the long-term due to structural [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Wednesday that the government will put all-out efforts into parliamentary approval of labor reform bills to create more jobs. Hwang described job creation as a major government task at the moment. In September, labor, management and the government reached a landmark deal to ease [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) - Foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Korea surpassed the US$15 billion mark this year for the first time ever, driven by a free trade pact with China and more favorable business conditions, the government said Wednesday. As of Tuesday, the amount of FDI that arrived in the country reached $15.19 [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) - Free trade pacts between South Korea and three of its trading partners – China, Vietnam and New Zealand – went into effect Sunday, raising hopes they could boost trade and economic growth, the government said. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said all three free trade agreements (FTA) that were signed and ratified earlier in the year went [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s government will push to reorganize the country’s numerous special economic zones that have failed to meet expectations, the finance ministry said Sunday. The ministry said plans by 14 regional administrations to build more than 200 free economic zones, industrial innovation centers, and research and development zones have not moved forward as planned. Of these, the country has some 90 special regions dedicated to attracting foreign [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s economic growth rate will likely slow to 2.5 percent in 2016 due to a continued export slump and weakening domestic consumption, a leading private think tank forecast Sunday. The prediction by the LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI) marks a 0.2 percentage point drop from its earlier estimate made in September. LGERI’s revised growth projection is also lower than the government’s 3.1 percent estimate for [...]
SEOUL/SEJONG, Dec. 21 (Yonhap) - Moody’s Investor Service’s latest upgrade of South Korea’s credit rating is expected to better insulate the country from a recent U.S. interest rate hike and other external uncertainties, Seoul’s top economic policymaker said Sunday. In a news conference held in Seoul, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan stressed the global credit appraiser’s decision to give Asia’s fourth largest economy an Aa2 rating is a clear sign of its confidence in the [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – More than half of business leaders in South Korea are seeking “belt-tightening” management next year amid gloomy outlooks for overall economic conditions, a poll showed Sunday. According to the poll of CEOs of 235 businesses by the Korea Employers Federation, a business lobby, 52.3 percent answered they will carry out the belt-tightening management next year. Of those polled, 32 percent said that they will maintain the “status quo,” while only 17.4 percent [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s exports will likely grow at a slower pace than the global average for the second straight year in 2015, a state-run think tank said Sunday, pointing to unfavorable overseas market conditions facing many Korean companies. According to the Korea Development Institute (KDI), South Korea’s exports in terms of volume are expected to remain unchanged from a year earlier. This will be lower than the 3.2 percent gain that the International Monetary Fund is [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) - The ratification of a free trade pact with China will give hope to South Korean exporters struggling to expand market presence abroad, the country’s top economic policymaker said Friday. Chairing a fiscal policy meeting in Seoul, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said that the free trade agreement (FTA) approved by the [...]