SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – The aging population and subsequent cut in the labor force could bring down South Korea’s growth rate to the 1-percent level in 20 years, an expert said Friday. According to government data, Koreans aged 65 or older accounted for 12.2 percent of the total population of some 50 million [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Korea Bizwire) - South Korea will focus on building new growth strategies in drawing up its economy management plan for next year that could help the country tide over the fast-changing economic environment at home and aboard, the top economic policymaker said Friday. In a meeting with heads of major economic research institutes [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean banks will likely impose tougher rules for screening mortgages in non-capital areas starting next year, joining government-led efforts to rein in the country’s runaway household debt, industry sources said Thursday. The financial authorities have asked local banks to use the debt-to-income (DTI) ratio when they screen mortgage [...]
SEOUL, Nov.18 (Korea Bizwire) – Research suggests that a decrease in working hours for Koreans, who currently work longer hours than almost anybody in the developed world, would lead to a drastic increase in the number of jobs created. At the Employment Impact Assessment Debate hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Korea Bizwire) - South Korean listed firms saw their sales edge down in the first nine months of the year but their bottom lines improved on the back of reduced costs for raw materials, the country’s bourse operator said Tuesday. Sales of 498 firms traded on the main KOSPI market totaled 1,205.6 trillion [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – Mounting household debt in South Korea is a major risk factor that could undermine financial stability and economic growth of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, but the country’s fundamental soundness and pre-emptive measures could help resolve such problems, a former Moody’s analyst said Tuesday. “(A U.S. rate hike) will have effects [...]
SEOUL/SEJONG, Nov. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea is engaged in a “partnership strengthening” endeavor with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that can assist the mega institution in successfully engaging in future development projects, a senior official said Friday. Vice Finance Minister Joo Hyung-hwan said in a conference hosted by the Korea Chamber of [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean stocks closed slightly lower Thursday as investors took to the sidelines ahead of top Fed officials’ remarks that could provide a glimpse of the U.S. central bank’s monetary policy direction, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price [...]
SEJONG, Nov. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s jobless rate fell in October as more people were hired in the manufacturing, and facility management and business support service sectors, a government report showed Wednesday. According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.1 percent last month, down from 3.2 percent in [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – China’s economic slowdown is feared to have a significant negative impact on the South Korean economy that is highly dependent on the neighboring country for its exports, a leading state think tank said Monday. In a report on the world’s second-largest economy, the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said that [...]