SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The Bank of Korea (BOK) again cut its growth forecast for the 2019 economy to 2.6 percent Thursday, following a 0.1 percentage point slash in October, in a clear sign of gloomy growth prospects going forward. The number is 0.3 percentage point lower than the central bank’s original forecast [...]
SEOUL, March 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean consumers are increasingly pulling out their debit cards to make purchases, thanks in part to the income tax deductions their use engenders and attractive loyalty programs, new data from the Bank of Korea (BOK) has revealed. According to the report released by the BOK on Tuesday, spending on [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – A hike in the base rate by the South Korean central bank is expected to increase funding costs of local businesses, a report said Tuesday, amid the recent trend of monetary normalization. According to the report published by the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF), if the Bank of Korea [...]
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, 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 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 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s household loans extended by local banks rose 10 percent in March from a year earlier due to increased mortgages, central bank data showed Wednesday. Outstanding household loans from local lenders came to 713.9 trillion won (US$621 billion) as of end-March, compared with 649 trillion won from a [...]
SEOUL, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s terms of trade deteriorated slightly in February from a year earlier as a rise in export prices was offset by a hike in import prices, central bank data showed Wednesday. The terms of trade index for products came to 100.48 last month, down 2.9 percent from a [...]
SEOUL, July 15 (Korea Bizwire) – The Bank of Korea (BOK) revealed on July 15 its ‘Adequacy Analysis of Recent Investment in Construction’ included in the Economic Outlook Report of July 2016, which showed serious concerns regarding the government’s economic stimulus plan focused on the construction industry. The BOK pointed out that Korea is following in the [...]
SEOUL, March 25 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s per capita income dropped in 2015 from the previous year, marking the first on-year drop in six years even though the decline was largely attributed to the depreciation of the local currency against the U.S. dollar. In 2015, the country’s per capita gross national income (GNI) came to [...]