SEOUL, July 7 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s central bank is expected to hold its key rates steady this month as it could move to “normalize” interest in early 2018, Moody’s Analytics said Friday. The Bank of Korea (BOK) is set to hold its rate-review session next Thursday to decide whether to keep or adjust [...]
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) – The housing market in Seoul and its adjacent areas are in an expansion phase, South Korea’s central bank said Monday, a move that has prompted the government to crack down on speculative real estate investments. The Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a report that the housing prices in [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Loans taken out to finance facility expansions reached an all-time high in March, in line with a recovery in exports and the global economy, data showed Sunday. According to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea, facility loans reached a record 404.87 trillion won (US$356 billion) as of [...]
SEOUL, June 16 (Korea Bizwire) – The property value of South Korean homes has risen sharply in recent years, data showed Thursday, amid the previous government’s policy to prop up the country’s housing market. The value of homes in the country stood at over 3,732 trillion won (US$3.32 trillion) as of late last year, up [...]
SEOUL, June 13 (Korea Bizwire) – The chief of South Korea’s central bank on Tuesday renewed his stance to maintain the current monetary easing policy to support growth despite a possible U.S. rate hike this week. “As I mentioned yesterday, we will maintain the accommodative monetary policy to help out with economic recovery. We cannot [...]
SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s central bank should maintain the current monetary easing policy to support growth, a member of the Bank of Korea’s (BOK) monetary policy board said Wednesday. Koh Seung-beom made the case during a luncheon meeting with reporters at the BOK headquarters in central Seoul, noting the recovery [...]
SEOUL, May 29 (Korea Bizwire) – The size of funds that invest in real estate and nontraditional assets has topped the 100 trillion-won (US$89 billion) mark as investors poured money into alternative vehicles seeking stable returns, industry data showed Sunday. According to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA), real estate funds and special asset funds with exposure to commodities, weather, artworks [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s interest rate freeze is seen as reflecting its improving economic fundamentals and the central bank’s stance to size up the effect of the new government’s economic policy on growth. As widely expected, the Bank of Korea (BOK) held the country’s benchmark interest rate at a record low [...]
SEOUL, May 15 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s household loans extended by banks rose 9.8 percent in April from a year earlier due to increased mortgages, central bank data showed Monday. Outstanding household loans from lenders came to 718.6 trillion won (US$637 billion) as of end-April, compared with 654.3 trillion won from a year earlier, according [...]
SEOUL, April 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea plans to launch a pilot project for a coinless society this week, South Korea’s central bank said Wednesday, a move that could enhance convenience for ordinary people. Under the project set to begin Thursday, consumers can deposit small change left from purchases of goods into their prepaid [...]