SEOUL, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Household debt growth in South Korea slowed, but corporate loans spiked by the largest amount in history amid the growing fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak, central bank data showed Tuesday. Fresh bank loans extended to local households came to 4.9 trillion won (US$4 billion) in April, according to [...]
SEOUL, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s tourism revenue slumped to a nine-year nadir in March due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed Tuesday. Revenue from inbound travelers reached US$729.8 million in March, down a whopping 67 percent from a year earlier and the lowest since January 2011, according to [...]
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The amount of state funds paid out as unemployment benefits soared to nearly 1 trillion won (US$820 million) last month, data showed Monday, due largely to the negative economic impact of the new coronavirus outbreak. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the government paid 993.3 billion won [...]
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Koreans picked the health and welfare sector as the best-performing area under the Moon Jae-in administration over the past three years, a poll showed Monday. In a Realmeter poll of 500 adults, 34.3 percent of respondents picked the health and welfare sector as the area where the Moon [...]
SEOUL, May 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign investors have ramped up their investment in South Korean bonds this year amid the country’s relatively favorable economic conditions, data showed Monday. Offshore investors held 140.9 trillion won (US$115 billion) worth of listed government and corporate bonds as of end-April, up 17 trillion won from the end of [...]
SEJONG, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s per capita national debt has surpassed 14 million won (US$11,500) and is expected to go up due to a spending hike meant to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, data showed Sunday. The data posted on the website of the National Assembly Budget Office showed [...]
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 26 percent in April from a year earlier amid the pandemic, while Japanese brands still struggle with weaker demand following ongoing trade tension between Seoul and Tokyo, an industry association said Thursday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles rose to [...]
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) — The maximum cost of treating a critically ill patient with the new coronavirus in South Korea is estimated at 70 million won (US$57,000), a study showed Thursday. The study, conducted by the state-run National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), said it takes at least 55 million won to treat critical [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s car sales plunged 48 percent last month from a year earlier as the spreading coronavirus outbreak continued to affect vehicle production and sales, data showed on Wednesday. The country’s five carmakers — Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Online shopping surged nearly 12 percent from a year earlier in March, data showed Wednesday, an apparent outcome of the new coronavirus outbreak that forced people to stay home. The value of online transactions came to about 12.58 trillion won (US$10.3 billion) in the month, up 11.8 percent from [...]